MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) CEO Henry A. Fernandez Buys 2,900 Shares

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $0.84 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $618.02. 20,456 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 535,682. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $595.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $550.36. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $631.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth $27,000. LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.83.

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.