Alken Asset Management Ltd Makes New Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Alken Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 1,100 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $660,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. LRI Investments LLC grew its position in MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price 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 directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of MSCI traded up $10.18 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $595.98. The company had a trading volume of 13,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 351,610. The stock has a market cap of $46.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $602.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $572.69. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSCI. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $645.67.

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.