Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC Buys 159 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,993 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. MSCI comprises about 1.5% of Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 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 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its position in MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $584.55 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $45.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $594.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $589.05.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSCI. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays cut their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.