Copperwynd Financial LLC Grows Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Copperwynd Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,682 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Copperwynd Financial LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. LRI Investments LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the firm’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 acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $554.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $43.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $584.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $589.06. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share 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 previous year, the company posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.