Voleon Capital Management LP Acquires Shares of 706 MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 706 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $424,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 293.8% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its holdings in MSCI by 122.7% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $60,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in MSCI by 46.8% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:MSCI opened at $546.57 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $458.69 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $42.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day moving average is $552.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $582.08.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.