Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Increases Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 47.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 975 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 314 shares during the quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in MSCI were worth $568,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. LRI Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.58.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $625.10 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $599.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $555.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.04, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.10. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

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.