MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) CEO Henry A. Fernandez Buys 13,000 Shares

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,579,015.68. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $477.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $37.85 billion, a PE ratio of 32.61, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $541.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $537.78.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.14 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 5,600.0% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, American National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1,300.0% in the 4th quarter. American National Bank now owns 70 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MSCI shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the company from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $562.87.

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.