Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 13,915 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 497,926 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,915 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $298,761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LRI Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 120.0% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in MSCI during the third quarter worth $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.9 %

MSCI stock opened at $572.61 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $44.46 billion, a PE ratio of 40.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $591.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $589.97.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.68 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is 51.21%.

MSCI 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.