Fred Alger Management LLC Acquires 6,571 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 36.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,608 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 6,571 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $14,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in MSCI by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $870,627,000 after purchasing an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 23,050 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $626,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,906 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,277,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $1.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $556.15. 379,892 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 526,600. The company has a market cap of $43.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $548.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $579.66. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $475.32 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced 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 analysts' expectations of $746.45 million. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. On average, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $645.36.

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.