Callan Family Office LLC Purchases Shares of 1,494 MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,494 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $896,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,230 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,938,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 2,370 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,422,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Ethos Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth $453,000. Inceptionr LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth $1,217,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth $185,003,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays cut their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $649.23.

Remove Ads

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MSCI Trading Down 0.8 %

MSCI stock traded down $4.28 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $562.01. The company had a trading volume of 710,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 521,586. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $590.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $590.00. The stock has a market cap of $43.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.97, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. Analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. This is a boost from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

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.