Versor Investments LP Acquires Shares of 2,578 MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,578 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,547,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $579.16 on Thursday. 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 $44.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $594.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $588.98.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly 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 in the previous year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

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.