Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Increases Position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 39.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,762 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $996,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $205,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,861 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,117,000 after buying an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 56.7% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 550 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $330,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 413 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on MSCI. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $645.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $2,762,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $1.18 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $548.55. The stock had a trading volume of 414,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 506,677. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $554.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $574.33. The firm has a market cap of $42.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $475.32 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 negative return on equity of 145.52% and a net margin of 39.08%. Sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 49.48%.

About MSCI

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.