Bessemer Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 16,353.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 587,557 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 583,986 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $352,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its position in shares of MSCI by 122.7% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth about $60,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in MSCI by 46.8% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $505.35 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $565.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $587.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.68 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lowered their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $647.31.

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.