Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Purchases 18,080 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 24.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 92,616 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 18,080 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned about 0.12% of MSCI worth $51,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at about $496,541,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 803.9% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 587,978 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $331,906,000 after buying an additional 522,926 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in MSCI by 3,600.0% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 253,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $143,469,000 after buying an additional 246,781 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 959,894 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $492,502,000 after buying an additional 235,290 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in MSCI by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $749,422,000 after buying an additional 179,508 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MSCI shares. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, May 13th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on MSCI in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Bank of America raised shares of MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $570.53.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock traded up $2.35 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $481.66. 33,331 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 585,514. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.72, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $485.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $530.92. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.14 EPS. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.