GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd Invests $40.81 Million in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd bought a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 68,019 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,812,000. MSCI accounts for approximately 14.3% of GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $104,991,000 after acquiring an additional 41,346 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $312,574,000 after acquiring an additional 23,050 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 176.2% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $921,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% during the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,060,000 after acquiring an additional 1,719 shares during the period. Finally, NS Partners Ltd boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. NS Partners Ltd now owns 74,721 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,557,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $568.48 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.14 billion, a PE ratio of 40.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $583.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $588.95.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the company posted $3.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is 51.21%.

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.