Vinva Investment Management Ltd Purchases 8,068 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 38.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,912 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,068 shares during the period. MSCI comprises 0.7% of Vinva Investment Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Vinva Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in MSCI were worth $17,337,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LRI Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Private Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 122.7% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $568.48 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $583.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $588.95. The company has a market capitalization of $44.14 billion, a PE ratio of 40.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued 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 net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research 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 stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

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.