Alliancebernstein L.P. Increases Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 19.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 249,035 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,978 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.32% of MSCI worth $149,423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 4.2% during the fourth 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 raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 0.9% during 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 last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,995,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSCI. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $566.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.33, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $576.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $588.99. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share 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 quarter last year, the company posted $3.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.