Heron Bay Capital Management Boosts Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Heron Bay Capital Management raised its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,607 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. MSCI accounts for about 1.5% of Heron Bay Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Heron Bay Capital Management’s holdings in MSCI were worth $6,964,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSCI. Fortis Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC now owns 8,227 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,936,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,649,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $15,960,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 179,045 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $107,429,000 after acquiring an additional 5,399 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 45.6% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,428 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,457,000 after acquiring an additional 2,328 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Down 0.5 %

MSCI opened at $562.98 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $43.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.04, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $581.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $588.65.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

MSCI Company 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.