Duality Advisers LP Buys 5,202 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Duality Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 351.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,682 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,202 shares during the quarter. Duality Advisers LP’s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 5,600.0% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 105.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 80 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Up 1.0 %

MSCI stock opened at $515.10 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $451.55 and a 12 month high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $40.81 billion, a PE ratio of 35.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $550.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $539.55.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.29 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $690.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $662.64 million. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. MSCI’s revenue was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.84 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a $1.60 dividend. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Redburn Atlantic cut MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on MSCI from $600.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $581.57.

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.