Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Buys 2,821 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 108.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,424 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,821 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $3,068,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in MSCI by 293.8% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its stake in MSCI by 122.6% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in MSCI by 147.2% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 89 shares of the technology company's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI traded down $9.62 on Friday, hitting $545.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 74,232 shares, compared to its average volume of 506,053. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $552.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $575.77. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $475.32 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $42.21 billion, a PE ratio of 38.86, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. On average, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. MSCI's payout ratio is 49.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America initiated coverage on MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $645.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at $160,133,398.33. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

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.