MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Purchased by Groupe la Francaise

Groupe la Francaise lifted its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 16.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,817 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,381 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise’s holdings in MSCI were worth $5,637,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position in shares of MSCI by 282.2% in the second quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 40,796 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $23,529,000 after buying an additional 30,122 shares in the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 131.3% in the 2nd quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 2,937 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,694,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in MSCI by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 49,376 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,477,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in MSCI by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 405,235 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $233,715,000 after acquiring an additional 4,454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its position in MSCI by 3.9% during the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 76,292 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,001,000 after acquiring an additional 2,898 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total transaction of $348,454.08. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 15,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,904,006.90. This trade represents a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $546.74 on Thursday. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $486.73 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.08 billion, a PE ratio of 34.65 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $561.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $563.09.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $794.87 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 110.94% and a net margin of 40.03%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.86 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 45.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays increased their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group raised their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $655.90.

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.