Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 150 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,771,308 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,789,834,000 after purchasing an additional 194,995 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in MSCI by 59.7% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,382,561 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,108,296,000 after purchasing an additional 890,554 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in MSCI by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,182,687 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,015,320,000 after purchasing an additional 467,592 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,601,510 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $743,762,000 after purchasing an additional 29,646 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,259,024 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $585,660,000 after acquiring an additional 3,492 shares during the period. 88.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 1,478 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total value of $768,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 15,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,893,080. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $555.89, for a total transaction of $1,000,602.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 18,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,158,333.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 1,478 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total value of $768,560.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,893,080. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $533.79 on Monday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $385.00 and a 52 week high of $572.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $524.82 and a 200-day moving average of $510.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.13.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The technology company reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.15. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 93.06% and a net margin of 39.02%. The business had revenue of $621.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $602.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 13.12 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 11th were issued a $1.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 10th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 48.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Raymond James upped their target price on MSCI from $574.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Barclays upped their target price on MSCI from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 25th. BNP Paribas downgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on MSCI from $510.00 to $582.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $640.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $565.83.

MSCI Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides investment decision support tools for the clients to manage their investment processes worldwide. It operates through four segments: Index, Analytics, ESG and Climate, and All Other Private Assets. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed product creation, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.