Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Has $585,000 Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 40.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 975 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 666 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $585,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. LRI Investments LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

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

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $572.78 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $601.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $586.86. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.89 billion, a PE ratio of 40.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.68 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 45.52%.

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.