Bank of Nova Scotia Buys 33,445 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 127.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 59,638 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 33,445 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in MSCI were worth $34,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $547,348,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 355.7% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 660,690 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $365,976,000 after purchasing an additional 515,713 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at $175,912,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the first quarter worth $119,408,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the first quarter worth $117,879,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $655.90.

MSCI Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $536.68 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $559.53 and its 200-day moving average is $562.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.01 and a beta of 1.32.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.10. MSCI had a net margin of 40.03% and a negative return on equity of 110.94%. The business had revenue of $793.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $794.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.86 EPS. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.63%.

MSCI declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total transaction of $348,454.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 15,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,904,006.90. The trade was a 3.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.