MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Stock Position Reduced by Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc.

Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 187,211 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,519 shares during the quarter. MSCI makes up 5.5% of Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc. owned about 0.24% of MSCI worth $112,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. LRI Investments LLC increased 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. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 122.7% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in MSCI by 46.8% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their target price on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $647.31.

MSCI Trading Down 6.7 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $507.57 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.10, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $572.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $588.66. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results 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 in the previous year, the company posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

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.