Permanent Capital Management LP Buys New Shares in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Permanent Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 636 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $382,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. LRI Investments LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSCI. Morgan Stanley raised 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $562.01 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $590.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $589.82. The company has a market capitalization of $43.64 billion, a PE ratio of 39.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 3.20% 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.