GAMMA Investing LLC Buys New Shares in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 186 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in MSCI by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,795 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in MSCI by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 165 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc raised its position in MSCI by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 17,792 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,064,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the period. National Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $441,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in MSCI by 244.8% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on MSCI in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Redburn Atlantic downgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Bank of America reduced their price target on MSCI from $530.00 to $425.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $562.87.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,579,015.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $477.78 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.85 billion, a PE ratio of 32.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $541.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $538.00. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.14 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

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.