Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 301.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 111,683 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 83,878 shares during the quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.14% of MSCI worth $67,011,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,136,563,000 after purchasing an additional 35,094 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in MSCI by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company's stock worth $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp increased its holdings in MSCI by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company's stock worth $689,180,000 after purchasing an additional 49,679 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter worth about $609,937,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 853,452 shares of the technology company's stock worth $512,079,000 after purchasing an additional 25,325 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America began coverage on MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $645.36.

MSCI Trading Up 0.0%

MSCI stock opened at $572.45 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $475.32 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $550.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $579.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.71, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $745.83 million during 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%. Equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

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