Allstate Corp Makes New Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Allstate Corp bought a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 2,325 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,395,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LRI Investments LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter worth $38,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 122.7% during the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target 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 target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

MSCI Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:MSCI opened at $558.03 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $578.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $588.92. The company has a market capitalization of $43.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.69, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.68 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.