Whitford Management LLC Buys New Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Whitford Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 11,283 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $6,770,000. MSCI comprises 1.8% of Whitford Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in 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 during the period. Nvwm LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 3,581.3% during the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,719 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its position in MSCI by 76.3% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares during the last quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund increased its stake in MSCI by 43.4% in the fourth quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 78,111 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $46,867,000 after purchasing an additional 23,649 shares during the period. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC increased its stake in MSCI by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 59,741 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $35,845,000 after purchasing an additional 2,123 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were 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 owns 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays lowered their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI 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. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $645.36.

MSCI Trading Up 0.0%

MSCI stock opened at $572.45 on Tuesday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $550.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $579.22. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $475.32 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $44.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. MSCI's payout ratio is 49.48%.

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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