Candlestick Capital Management LP Has $66.26 Million Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Candlestick Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 141.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 110,428 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 64,688 shares during the period. MSCI makes up about 1.5% of Candlestick Capital Management LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Candlestick Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.14% of MSCI worth $66,258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought 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 owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price target for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $645.36.

MSCI Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:MSCI traded up $1.46 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $546.57. 430,385 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 537,475. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $458.69 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $552.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $582.50.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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 $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

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.