Certuity LLC Acquires 141 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Certuity LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 17.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 967 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. Certuity LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $547,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 5,600.0% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $51,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group reduced their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America upgraded MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Redburn Atlantic cut MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $569.53.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,579,015.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,579,015.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $465.84 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $538.06 and a 200 day moving average of $537.38. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $617.39. The firm has a market cap of $36.90 billion, a PE ratio of 31.80, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.06.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

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.