Park Avenue Securities LLC Purchases Shares of 1,619 MSCI Inc $MSCI

Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,619 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $934,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the first quarter worth $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 136.4% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its position in MSCI by 50.0% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA increased its position in MSCI by 355.6% during the first quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 82 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in MSCI during the first quarter worth $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 9,916 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $544.70 per share, for a total transaction of $5,401,245.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $697,143,554.90. The trade was a 0.78% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have purchased a total of 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of MSCI opened at $565.40 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $43.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.34. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $562.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $559.40.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 47.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. UBS Group raised their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $652.45.

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.