Blue Trust Inc. Boosts Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 19.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,012 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $590,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 441 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $961,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 884 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $530,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Benin Management CORP grew its position in shares of MSCI by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. Benin Management CORP now owns 1,598 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $959,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 2,064 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,238,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group lowered their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday. Barclays decreased their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $590.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.76, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $606.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $581.51.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 51.21%.

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.