Stevens Capital Management LP Makes New $794,000 Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,324 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $794,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd 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, Y.D. More Investments Ltd lifted its stake in MSCI by 122.7% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $562.98 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $581.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $588.65. The stock has a market cap of $43.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results 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 earned $3.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MSCI. Barclays cut their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company 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.