Dash Acquisitions Inc. Has $2.74 Million Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 17.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,358 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 655 shares during the period. MSCI makes up about 0.6% of Dash Acquisitions Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Dash Acquisitions Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 15.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,090 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,465,000 after buying an additional 1,499 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 566 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 6.8% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,248 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $728,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 15.8% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 945 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $551,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $574.18 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $599.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $587.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.84, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

MSCI 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.