AlphaQuest LLC Has $1.83 Million Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

AlphaQuest LLC decreased its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 15.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,053 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 542 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,832,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. LRI Investments LLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $562.01 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $590.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $590.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.97, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MSCI. Barclays decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

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.