MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC

Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,957 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 95 shares during the period. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,775,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,748 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,049,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 220 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. LVW Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 1,460 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $876,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust grew its stake in MSCI by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,902 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,341,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter worth about $274,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $645.67.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $612.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $603.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $575.23. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.45 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

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.