Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Invests $694,000 in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,157 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $694,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSCI. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in MSCI by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company's stock worth $104,991,000 after purchasing an additional 41,346 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock worth $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares during the last quarter. Nvwm LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% during the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,060,000 after buying an additional 1,719 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 76.3% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,795,000 after buying an additional 1,295 shares during the period. Finally, Alken Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at $660,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $566.28 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $475.32 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $43.81 billion, a PE ratio of 40.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50-day moving average of $548.94 and a 200-day moving average of $579.32.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. On average, equities analysts expect 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, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.48%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This trade represents a 1.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on MSCI shares. Barclays dropped their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $645.36.

MSCI Profile

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.

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