Apeiron RIA LLC Buys 92 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Apeiron RIA LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 13.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 768 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the quarter. Apeiron RIA LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $461,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 30.0% in the third 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 last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in MSCI by 52.4% in the 3rd 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of MSCI by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $104,991,000 after buying an additional 41,346 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised 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 valued at $15,642,000 after acquiring an additional 20,730 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $614.58 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $604.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $577.21. The stock has a market cap of $48.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI began coverage on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.85.

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.