MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Holdings Raised by B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management

B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,292 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management’s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of MSCI by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,860,925,000 after purchasing an additional 11,351 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,279,904,000 after buying an additional 318,214 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in MSCI by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,082,594,000 after buying an additional 13,691 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in MSCI by 14.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after buying an additional 198,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 2.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after buying an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI started coverage on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $645.67.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MSCI Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $612.25 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $603.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $573.14. The stock has a market cap of $47.98 billion, a PE ratio of 40.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The business 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. 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.