Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Increases Stock Position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 31.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,759 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $2,126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $609,937,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 16,353.6% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 587,557 shares of the technology company's stock worth $352,539,000 after acquiring an additional 583,986 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 61,179.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company's stock worth $285,892,000 after purchasing an additional 504,732 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in MSCI by 3,881.3% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $251,662,000 after purchasing an additional 408,894 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in MSCI by 169.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 507,413 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $304,453,000 after purchasing an additional 319,083 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE:MSCI traded up $11.21 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $576.90. 879,635 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 511,179. The firm's 50-day moving average is $555.72 and its 200-day moving average is $571.88. The stock has a market cap of $44.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $478.33 and a 1-year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted 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 business had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 145.52% and a net margin of 39.08%. As a group, research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.48%.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on MSCI. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 target price on the stock. 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, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $645.36.

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.