Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. Raises Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 36.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,602 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,075 shares during the period. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $6,563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in MSCI by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 165 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in MSCI by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 100 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Balentine LLC grew its position in MSCI by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 572 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust grew its position in MSCI by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,630 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,349,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,193 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $530.00 to $425.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $562.87.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI traded up $13.29 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $477.78. The stock had a trading volume of 1,040,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 758,208. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $541.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $537.78. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $617.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.61, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit acquired 7,500 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,579,015.68. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.