NorthRock Partners LLC Makes New $556,000 Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

NorthRock Partners LLC purchased a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 926 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $556,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company's stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,995,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 712 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on MSCI. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. 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. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price target on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $645.36.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $2.11 on Tuesday, hitting $570.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 508,004 shares, compared to its average volume of 521,630. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $475.32 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $550.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $579.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. The business had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. Analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. MSCI's payout ratio is presently 49.48%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.