Janus Henderson Group PLC Acquires 194 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,645 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $5,621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 7.6% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,016 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $971,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in MSCI by 16.1% in the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 2,075 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 9.3% in the second quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 437 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 5.0% during the second quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 837 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the second quarter valued at approximately $255,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.83.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $618.68 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $596.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $551.26. The company has a market cap of $48.49 billion, a PE ratio of 40.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.10. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $631.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

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.