Chancellor Financial Group WB LP Makes New $280,000 Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Chancellor Financial Group WB LP purchased a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 467 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $280,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in MSCI by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,136,563,000 after buying an additional 35,094 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company's stock worth $967,820,000 after acquiring an additional 119,471 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company's stock worth $689,180,000 after purchasing an additional 49,679 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at $609,937,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 853,452 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $512,079,000 after purchasing an additional 25,325 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock traded down $2.43 on Friday, hitting $563.57. 631,875 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 513,186. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $475.32 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The business's fifty day moving average is $550.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $577.55.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. Equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays lowered their target price on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $645.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $160,133,398.33. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

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.