MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Purchased by Man Group plc

Man Group plc lifted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 62.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 181,033 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 69,915 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc owned about 0.23% of MSCI worth $108,622,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 293.8% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 122.6% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its position in MSCI by 122.7% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at $60,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. 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. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $645.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

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

MSCI Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of MSCI traded up $2.44 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $574.66. The stock had a trading volume of 63,465 shares, compared to its average volume of 520,818. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $550.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $579.26. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $475.32 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $44.46 billion, a PE ratio of 40.87, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. Equities 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 $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.