SRN Advisors LLC Acquires 97 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

SRN Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,505 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. MSCI makes up about 1.3% of SRN Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. SRN Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,503,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. LRI Investments LLC raised its position in MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $579.16 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $44.97 billion, a PE ratio of 41.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $594.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $588.98.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

About MSCI

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.