Bennett Selby Investments LP Acquires 122 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Bennett Selby Investments LP grew its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 5.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,382 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 293.8% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 122.6% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 147.2% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 89 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.36.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $568.66 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $550.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $576.56. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $475.32 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $44.00 billion, a PE ratio of 40.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. On average, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.48%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

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 directly owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.