Alliancebernstein L.P. Increases Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 19.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 249,035 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 39,978 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.32% of MSCI worth $149,423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,995,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI traded down $32.04 on Thursday, reaching $543.92. The company had a trading volume of 631,673 shares, compared to its average volume of 557,712. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $42.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $574.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $588.59.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 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 period last year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This is a boost from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. Barclays dropped their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $649.23.

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.