Fernwood Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Fernwood Investment Management LLC increased its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,157 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the period. MSCI makes up 1.5% of Fernwood Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Fernwood Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $5,744,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 5,600.0% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth about $51,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $562.87.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 0.2 %

MSCI traded down $1.02 during trading on Monday, reaching $476.76. The company had a trading volume of 1,036,068 shares, compared to its average volume of 552,585. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $37.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.61, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $541.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $538.00.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The business had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.69%.

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.