Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Acquires 319,083 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 169.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 507,413 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 319,083 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in MSCI were worth $304,453,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its position in MSCI by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its position in MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $558.03 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $578.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $588.73.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

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.