Fred Alger Management LLC Purchases 7,399 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 69.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,037 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,399 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $10,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $608.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $47.71 billion, a PE ratio of 39.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $591.03 and a 200 day moving average of $545.78. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $631.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.83.

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.