GAM Holding AG Makes New Investment in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

GAM Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,299 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $2,997,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 23.2% during the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 812 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $459,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 78,111 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $46,867,000 after acquiring an additional 23,649 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 59,741 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $35,845,000 after acquiring an additional 2,123 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at $556,000. Finally, GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 116,611 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $69,968,000 after acquiring an additional 1,239 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America started coverage on MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price target for the company. 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. Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $645.36.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $1.07 on Friday, hitting $544.79. 666,095 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 505,055. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $478.33 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $42.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day moving average of $554.33 and a 200 day moving average of $572.93.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced 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 negative return on equity of 145.52% and a net margin of 39.08%. The business had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. Sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 49.48%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.