GAMMA Investing LLC Raises Stake in MSCI Inc $MSCI

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,026 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $592,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,302,610,000 after purchasing an additional 518,833 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,626,923 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $920,026,000 after purchasing an additional 13,918 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,008,778 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $570,464,000 after purchasing an additional 19,846 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in MSCI by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 804,640 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $455,024,000 after purchasing an additional 20,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in MSCI by 355.7% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 660,690 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $365,976,000 after purchasing an additional 515,713 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Down 0.6%

MSCI stock opened at $565.56 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $43.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.34. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $562.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $559.00.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.06 million. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.64 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 47.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Raymond James Financial raised shares of MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $652.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 84 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,296,314.19. This represents a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have bought a total of 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 over the last quarter. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.