FourThought Financial LLC Boosts Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

FourThought Financial LLC increased its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI – Get Rating) by 605.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 134 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the quarter. FourThought Financial LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $57,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 2.7% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,732,183 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,839,566,000 after acquiring an additional 176,893 shares during the period. Bishop Rock Capital L.P. grew its position in MSCI by 18,898.0% in the second quarter. Bishop Rock Capital L.P. now owns 3,918,722 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,508,000 after acquiring an additional 3,898,095 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in MSCI by 128.4% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,412,649 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,406,523,000 after acquiring an additional 1,918,640 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in MSCI by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,328,864 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,404,082,000 after acquiring an additional 25,088 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in MSCI by 6.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,095,848 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,275,954,000 after acquiring an additional 183,590 shares during the period. 88.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, insider Jennifer H. Mak sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $559.89, for a total value of $503,901.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,843 shares in the company, valued at $3,831,327.27. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.02% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $537.09 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $376.41 and a fifty-two week high of $572.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $530.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $485.93. The stock has a market cap of $42.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.10 and a beta of 1.13.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 31st. The technology company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $576.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $568.53 million. MSCI had a net margin of 38.72% and a negative return on equity of 93.24%. The company’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.51 EPS. On average, equities 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 17th were issued a $1.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 16th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on MSCI from $518.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on MSCI from $204.00 to $532.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Oppenheimer upped their price target on MSCI from $510.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. StockNews.com started coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $558.10.

About MSCI

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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.