MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) CEO Buys $46,089.96 in Stock

Key Points

• MSCI Inc CEO, Henry A. Fernandez, purchased 84 shares at an average price of $548.69, increasing his total ownership to approximately 1.28 million shares valued at $702.3 million.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $4.17, surpassing analysts' expectations of $4.12, and revenue increased by 9.1% year-over-year.
• MSCI's quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share will be paid on August 29th, with a projected annualized yield of 1.30%.

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,296,314.19. The trade was a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI traded down $3.76 on Friday, hitting $557.60. The stock had a trading volume of 189,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 595,420. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $486.73 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $43.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $563.67 and a 200-day moving average of $565.49.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.64 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial upgraded MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Bank of America assumed coverage on MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 target price for the company. Barclays reduced their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $654.73.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in MSCI by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 45,404 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $27,243,000 after purchasing an additional 5,350 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 567,834 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $340,707,000 after buying an additional 31,623 shares in the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 2,157 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,294,000 after buying an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of MSCI by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 37,352 shares of the technology company's stock worth $22,412,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DnB Asset Management AS raised its position in shares of MSCI by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 13,322 shares of the technology company's stock worth $7,993,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.