Insider Buying: MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) CEO Acquires 2,400 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• MSCI Inc CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,400 shares at an average cost of $535.11 each, totaling approximately $1.28 million, bringing his total ownership to 332,779 shares valued at about $178 million.
• MSCI's stock price rose 1.2% to reach $552.98, with a strong trading volume of 1,668,065 shares, significantly above its average volume of 588,469 shares.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, with an annualized payout of $7.20, yielding approximately 1.30% for its shareholders.

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $535.11 per share, with a total value of $1,284,264.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 332,779 shares in the company, valued at $178,073,370.69. The trade was a 0.73% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

MSCI Trading Down 0.7%

MSCI traded down $3.76 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $557.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 189,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 595,420. The stock's 50-day moving average is $563.67 and its 200-day moving average is $565.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.96, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.32. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $486.73 and a 1 year high of $642.45.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in shares of MSCI by 23.2% during the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 812 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $459,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 336.4% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 96 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 6.5% during the first quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 524 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 59,741 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $35,845,000 after acquiring an additional 2,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NorthRock Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at about $556,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.73.

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.