Sone Capital Management LLC Makes New $6.31 Million Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Sone Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,514 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $6,309,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $312,574,000 after acquiring an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,121 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,873,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in shares of MSCI by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 659 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $278,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 76.3% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,295 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSCI. Barclays dropped their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $645.36.

MSCI Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $3.47 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $563.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 435,576 shares, compared to its average volume of 519,402. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $551.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $579.02. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $475.32 and a one year high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $43.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. The business had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. Research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.