464 Shares in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Bought by Empirical Asset Management LLC

Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 464 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $278,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp grew its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company's stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $680.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $690.00 price objective on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $645.67.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:MSCI traded up $2.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $612.25. 311,715 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 343,033. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $603.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $574.64.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. MSCI's payout ratio is 42.02%.

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.