BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments Makes New Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments bought a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 51,500 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $30,864,000. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments owned 0.07% of MSCI at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 293.8% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its stake in MSCI by 122.7% during the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in MSCI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in MSCI by 46.8% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 113 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $7.73 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $552.90. 339,757 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 529,334. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $468.43 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $42.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $550.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $580.68.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. The business had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of MSCI 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 acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at $154,542,084.75. The trade was a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $645.36.

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.