First Long Island Investors LLC Takes Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

First Long Island Investors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 13,027 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,301,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the first quarter worth $26,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the third quarter worth $30,000. American National Bank boosted its holdings in MSCI by 1,300.0% in the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 70 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. First United Bank & Trust bought a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $48,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Up 1.0 %

MSCI traded up $4.65 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $493.65. The company had a trading volume of 665,204 shares, compared to its average volume of 583,709. The business has a 50-day moving average of $488.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $527.77. The company has a market cap of $39.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.10. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The business 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 in the prior year, the business posted $3.14 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.67 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on MSCI shares. Bank of America raised MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays lowered their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $571.20.

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.