Champlain Investment Partners LLC Purchases 38,610 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 40.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 134,850 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 38,610 shares during the quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 0.17% of MSCI worth $80,911,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 122.7% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 46.8% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 113 shares of the technology company's stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 117 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays lowered their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. 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, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $643.92.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company'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 value of $2,621,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $2.53 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $536.01. The company had a trading volume of 267,767 shares, compared to its average volume of 566,079. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $41.62 billion, a PE ratio of 38.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $558.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $585.27.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $746.45 million. Sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. 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.