Bessemer Group Inc. Grows Stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 590,892 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 3,335 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. owned 0.76% of MSCI worth $334,149,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,136,563,000 after acquiring an additional 35,094 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth about $609,937,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.1% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of MSCI by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 784,490 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $470,702,000 after buying an additional 48,524 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in MSCI by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 567,834 shares of the technology company's stock worth $340,707,000 after buying an additional 31,623 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $575.02 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $478.33 and a one year high of $642.45. The company's 50-day moving average is $554.79 and its 200 day moving average is $572.26.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 39.08% and a negative return on equity of 145.52%. As a group, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is 49.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company'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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays lowered their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $645.36.

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.

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