Heartland Bank & Trust Co Reduces Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Heartland Bank & Trust Co lowered its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,341 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 59 shares during the quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in MSCI were worth $805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $870,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 221.2% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 61,347 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,554,000 after purchasing an additional 42,247 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 1,435.7% during the second quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 5,974 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,878,000 after acquiring an additional 5,585 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 37.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 11,295 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,441,000 after purchasing an additional 3,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in MSCI by 4.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 637,381 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $307,058,000 after buying an additional 25,497 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Up 0.7 %

MSCI opened at $620.22 on Monday. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $605.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $579.61.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group cut their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.85.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by 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.