MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Bought by O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 14.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,818 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,606 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $7,691,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 120.0% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its position in MSCI by 122.7% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 46.8% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 113 shares of the technology company's stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research 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, MSCI presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $647.31.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Trading Down 6.7 %

MSCI stock traded down $36.61 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $507.57. 1,194,650 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 560,242. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $574.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $588.59. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (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 firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. This is an increase from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

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.