Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Acquires 49 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,219 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $710,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,860,925,000 after purchasing an additional 11,351 shares in the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after buying an additional 318,214 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,082,594,000 after acquiring an additional 13,691 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $967,820,000 after acquiring an additional 119,471 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in MSCI by 14.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after acquiring an additional 198,666 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $587.87 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $45.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $593.39 and its 200-day moving average is $590.05.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.68 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

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.