Cd Baer Pettit Acquires 7,500 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Stock

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

MSCI Trading Up 2.9 %

MSCI opened at $477.78 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $541.71 and its 200-day moving average is $537.90. The stock has a market cap of $37.85 billion, a PE ratio of 32.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.59 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of MSCI by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 165 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $93,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 664 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 100 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Balentine LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 572 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,080 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $562.87.

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.