Toronto Dominion Bank Buys 2,955 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 42,188 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,955 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in MSCI were worth $25,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,227,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 712 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its position in MSCI by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 256 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.36.

MSCI Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $571.26 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $550.12 and a 200 day moving average of $579.26. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $475.32 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $44.20 billion, a PE ratio of 40.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. The business had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. The trade was a 1.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.