Bridgefront Capital LLC Acquires 616 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Bridgefront Capital LLC increased its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 78.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,398 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 616 shares during the quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $839,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in MSCI by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company's stock worth $104,991,000 after purchasing an additional 41,346 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in MSCI by 4.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock worth $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 3,581.3% during the fourth quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,060,000 after acquiring an additional 1,719 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 76.3% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Threadgill Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 255.4% in the 4th quarter. Threadgill Financial LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the technology company's stock worth $770,000 after acquiring an additional 922 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI traded up $5.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $558.36. 526,057 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 528,192. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $549.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $580.49. The company has a market cap of $43.20 billion, a PE ratio of 39.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $472.38 and a 52 week high of $642.45.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America initiated coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $645.36.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $154,542,084.75. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.