Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Purchases 1,752 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 26,388 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,752 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in MSCI were worth $14,926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 100 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. KB Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. KB Financial Partners LLC now owns 253 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Balentine LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 572 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 412 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $190,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,027 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $478,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $505.42 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $40.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $553.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $538.84. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $451.55 and a 1-year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.29 by $0.39. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 111.17% and a net margin of 45.42%. The firm had revenue of $690.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $662.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $1.60 dividend. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Edward Jones initiated coverage on MSCI in a report on Friday, December 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on MSCI in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $581.57.

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.