MBB Public Markets I LLC Makes New Investment in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• MBB Public Markets I LLC invested approximately $307,000 in MSCI Inc by purchasing 542 shares in the first quarter.
• MSCI has attracted significant interest from institutional investors, with 89.97% of its stock owned by institutions and hedge funds.
• Analysts have varied opinions on MSCI's target price, with Wells Fargo lowering it to $533 while UBS increased it to $700, reflecting a mix of sentiments in the market.

MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 542 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $307,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in MSCI by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,478 shares of the technology company's stock worth $887,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in MSCI by 43.5% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,352 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,411,000 after acquiring an additional 713 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 125.0% during the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 99 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 12,030 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in MSCI by 25.8% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,322 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,193,000 after purchasing an additional 2,115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $652.45.

MSCI Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE MSCI opened at $562.73 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $563.98 and a 200-day moving average of $559.37. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $43.53 billion, a PE ratio of 37.27, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.34.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%.The business had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.64 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.68%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $702,296,314.19. This trade represents a 0.01% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. 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.

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