Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Grows Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 180,156 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,381 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.23% of MSCI worth $108,096,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $609,937,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 16,353.6% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 587,557 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $352,539,000 after acquiring an additional 583,986 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in MSCI by 169.4% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 507,413 shares of the technology company's stock worth $304,453,000 after acquiring an additional 319,083 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $185,003,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $126,082,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America started coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $639.00.

MSCI Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $3.28 on Thursday, reaching $530.13. The company's stock had a trading volume of 689,634 shares, compared to its average volume of 556,490. The company has a market capitalization of $41.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.70, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $449.00 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $556.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $584.59.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $746.45 million. Research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased 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 owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. The trade was a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

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.