Syon Capital LLC Has $389,000 Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Syon Capital LLC raised its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 35.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 688 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the quarter. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $389,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 803.9% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 587,978 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $331,906,000 after acquiring an additional 522,926 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in MSCI by 59.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 762,080 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $391,008,000 after purchasing an additional 284,513 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 959,894 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $492,502,000 after purchasing an additional 235,290 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 468.7% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 244,267 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $125,329,000 after purchasing an additional 201,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $749,422,000 after buying an additional 179,508 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,579,015.68. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America cut their price objective on MSCI from $530.00 to $425.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $562.87.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $477.78 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $541.71 and a 200-day moving average of $537.78. The stock has a market cap of $37.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.14 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

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.