Ballentine Partners LLC Buys 66 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,748 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,049,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MSCI. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on MSCI from $680.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.85.

MSCI Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $614.25 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $48.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.33, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $604.53 and a 200 day moving average of $576.95.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

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.