MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Bought by LRI Investments LLC

LRI Investments LLC raised its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 125.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 99 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the quarter. LRI Investments LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $60,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $609,937,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 16,353.6% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 587,557 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,539,000 after buying an additional 583,986 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in MSCI by 169.4% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 507,413 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $304,453,000 after purchasing an additional 319,083 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $185,003,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $126,082,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 289,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $160,133,398.33. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays decreased their target price on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $645.36.

MSCI Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE:MSCI opened at $564.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $43.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.12, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $548.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $579.41. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $475.32 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. Research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

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.