Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd Buys Shares of 1,193 MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,193 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $609,937,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in MSCI by 16,353.6% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 587,557 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $352,539,000 after purchasing an additional 583,986 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in MSCI by 3,881.3% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $251,662,000 after purchasing an additional 408,894 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in MSCI by 169.4% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 507,413 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $304,453,000 after purchasing an additional 319,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $185,003,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Bank of America began coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays lowered their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $645.36.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $566.42 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $550.90 and its 200-day moving average is $578.37. The company has a market cap of $43.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.29, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $475.32 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. The firm 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%. Equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.