J2 Capital Management Inc Acquires Shares of 456 MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

J2 Capital Management Inc bought a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 456 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 52.4% during the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,779 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,203,000 after buying an additional 1,299 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 29.6% during the second quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 21,384 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,302,000 after buying an additional 4,890 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 339.6% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,834 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,642,000 after buying an additional 20,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in MSCI by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,991,000 after acquiring an additional 41,346 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $612.25 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $603.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $574.07. The company has a market cap of $47.98 billion, a PE ratio of 40.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.67.

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.