Stonegate Investment Group LLC Invests $213,000 in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Stonegate Investment Group LLC bought a new position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 376 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 293.8% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 122.6% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in MSCI by 147.2% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 89 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in MSCI by 9,100.0% during the first quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 92 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $544.79 on Monday. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $478.33 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $42.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.44, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.33. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $554.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $572.67.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a net margin of 39.08% and a negative return on equity of 145.52%. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI 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.