Aspiriant LLC Makes New $229,000 Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Aspiriant LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 408 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSCI. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $75,000. City Holding Co. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 41.4% in the first quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 4,659 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,611,000 after buying an additional 1,363 shares during the last quarter. Security Financial Services INC. acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the first quarter worth $214,000. Crestmont Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. Crestmont Private Wealth LLC now owns 571 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MJP Associates Inc. ADV lifted its position in MSCI by 22.4% during the 1st quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 901 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $505,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSCI. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America raised shares of MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $570.53.

MSCI Stock Down 0.3 %

MSCI stock opened at $487.14 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $486.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $531.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.25, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company 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%. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.14 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

Insider Activity

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