Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Grows Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,005 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $568,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. RB Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $642,000 after buying an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Markel Corp boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 141,700 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $71,258,000 after purchasing an additional 4,700 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of MSCI by 42.2% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,237 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 6.0% in the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 1,831 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $921,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $701,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE:MSCI traded up $1.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $506.79. 66,962 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 454,578. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $451.55 and a 52-week high of $617.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $553.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $538.84.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. MSCI’s payout ratio is 44.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com lowered MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Edward Jones started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.