Alken Asset Management Ltd Invests $660,000 in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Alken Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,100 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $660,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burney Co. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 1,251 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $751,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,121 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,873,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 667 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $400,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of MSCI by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company's stock worth $104,991,000 after purchasing an additional 41,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crestmont Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Crestmont Private Wealth LLC now owns 647 shares of the technology company's stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSCI. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded 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 research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $690.00 price target for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $645.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $16.12 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $601.92. 504,132 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 406,958. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $602.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $572.69. The stock has a market cap of $47.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.52, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $716.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. MSCI's payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

About MSCI

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.