Arlington Financial Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Arlington Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 350 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,860,925,000 after acquiring an additional 11,351 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.9% in the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after purchasing an additional 318,214 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,082,594,000 after buying an additional 13,691 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 14.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $925,531,000 after buying an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 2.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $870,627,000 after buying an additional 37,340 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $579.13 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.39 billion, a PE ratio of 41.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $605.76 and its 200-day moving average is $584.53.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.68 EPS. Analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 45.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 3.20% 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.