Ghe LLC Has $2.72 Million Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Ghe LLC lifted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,801 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. MSCI accounts for 1.7% of Ghe LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Ghe LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,716,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in MSCI by 803.9% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 587,978 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $331,906,000 after acquiring an additional 522,926 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in MSCI by 59.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 762,080 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $391,008,000 after acquiring an additional 284,513 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in MSCI by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 959,894 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $492,502,000 after acquiring an additional 235,290 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 468.7% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 244,267 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $125,329,000 after acquiring an additional 201,317 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in MSCI by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $749,422,000 after acquiring an additional 179,508 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday, April 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $562.87.

MSCI Trading Up 4.2 %

MSCI traded up $18.81 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $464.81. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,230,013 shares, compared to its average volume of 529,352. The stock has a market cap of $36.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.28, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $545.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $538.56. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 111.17% and a net margin of 45.42%. The company’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.14 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.44%.

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.