Perbak Capital Partners LLP Invests $502,000 in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Perbak Capital Partners LLP has acquired a new stake in MSCI Inc, purchasing 887 shares valued at approximately $502,000 in the first quarter.
• CEO Henry A. Fernandez has bought 84 shares of MSCI at an average price of $548.69, increasing his ownership to nearly 1.28 million shares valued at about $702 million.
• MSCI declared a $1.80 quarterly dividend, reflecting a 1.3% dividend yield, with a payout ratio of 47.68%.

Perbak Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 887 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $502,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in MSCI by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 3,743 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,246,000 after buying an additional 722 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at $338,000. Algert Global LLC increased its position in MSCI by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 5,924 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,554,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in MSCI by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 170,798 shares of the technology company's stock worth $102,481,000 after purchasing an additional 19,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in MSCI by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,478 shares of the technology company's stock worth $887,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial upgraded MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.73.

MSCI Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:MSCI traded down $1.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $555.43. 626,839 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 529,941. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $564.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $559.42. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.34.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $763.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.64 EPS. MSCI's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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 approximately $702,296,314.19. This trade represents a 0.01% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. 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.