Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Buys 319,083 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 169.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 507,413 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 319,083 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.65% of MSCI worth $304,453,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. LRI Investments LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at $38,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its holdings in MSCI by 122.7% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $558.03 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $43.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.69, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $578.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $588.73.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. Analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSCI. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays cut their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Company 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.