Freestone Grove Partners LP Invests $825,000 in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,375 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $825,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in MSCI by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company's stock worth $104,991,000 after purchasing an additional 41,346 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 3,581.3% during the fourth quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,060,000 after buying an additional 1,719 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in MSCI by 76.3% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Threadgill Financial LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 255.4% in the 4th quarter. Threadgill Financial LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $770,000 after acquiring an additional 922 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MSCI shares. Barclays cut their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research 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 report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $645.36.

MSCI Trading Up 1.4 %

MSCI stock traded up $7.73 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $552.90. 339,757 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 530,622. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $468.43 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $42.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $550.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $580.68.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 1.30%. MSCI's payout ratio is presently 49.48%.

MSCI 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.