MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Purchased by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 19.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 249,035 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,978 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $149,423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LRI Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 122.7% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 46.8% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 113 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $566.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $44.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $576.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $588.99.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

MSCI 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.