National Pension Service Grows Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

National Pension Service increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI – Get Rating) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,995 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,078 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.17% of MSCI worth $56,286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth $31,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in MSCI by 57.1% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its holdings in MSCI by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 103 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 37.5% in the 1st quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 99 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. 88.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, insider Jennifer H. Mak sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $559.89, for a total transaction of $503,901.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,831,327.27. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $536.77 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $527.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $484.71. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $376.41 and a 12 month high of $572.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.07 and a beta of 1.13.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The technology company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.71 by $0.13. MSCI had a net margin of 38.72% and a negative return on equity of 93.24%. The firm had revenue of $576.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $568.53 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.51 EPS. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 12.8 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 17th were given a dividend of $1.38 per share. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $580.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $539.00 to $549.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Oppenheimer increased their target price on MSCI from $510.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. StockNews.com began coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on MSCI from $470.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $558.10.

MSCI Company Profile

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MSCI, Inc engages in the provision of investment decision support tools including indices, portfolio risk and performance analytics and corporate governance products and services. It operates through the following segments: Index, Analytics, ESG and Climate, and All Other-Private Assets. The Index segment focuses on the investment process, including developing indexed financial products.