Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Purchases Shares of 520 MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 520 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $297,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,715,000. Simplicity Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 2,330 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,318,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 677 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in MSCI by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 637 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 7,679 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,344,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Edward Jones initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $581.57.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $513.06 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $40.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $451.55 and a 1 year high of $617.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $558.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $539.26.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.29 by $0.39. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. The company had revenue of $690.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $662.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.84 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $1.60 dividend. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.44%.

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.