Skopos Labs Inc. Makes New $274,000 Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Skopos Labs Inc. bought a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 484 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 165 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 100 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Balentine LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 572 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,781 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,139,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,630 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,349,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com downgraded MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays reduced their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $570.53.

MSCI Stock Up 0.5 %

MSCI traded up $2.60 during trading on Friday, reaching $493.00. 482,853 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 827,539. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.06 billion, a PE ratio of 33.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $512.16 and its 200 day moving average is $536.55. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 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 given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.69%.

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 shares were acquired at an average price of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit acquired 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 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.