Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Has $29,000 Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd reduced its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 66.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 51 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 102 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in MSCI were worth $29,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 5,600.0% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Trading Up 2.9 %

MSCI stock opened at $477.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $37.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $617.39. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $541.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $537.78.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.14 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.59 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $562.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.