Optimize Financial Inc Purchases New Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Optimize Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 596 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm'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 directly owns 294,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America assumed coverage on MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on MSCI from $623.00 to $532.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $646.58.

MSCI Stock Up 1.0 %

MSCI traded up $5.28 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $556.53. The company had a trading volume of 361,993 shares, compared to its average volume of 569,009. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $560.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $586.46. The stock has a market cap of $43.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.58, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the company earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. This is an increase from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.