MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Insider Scott A. Crum Sells 9,000 Shares

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $469.74 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39. The firm has a market cap of $37.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.06, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $536.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $536.91.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $680.00 million for 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous 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 Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,260,105 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,159,615,000 after buying an additional 15,184 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 1.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,893,728 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $971,634,000 after purchasing an additional 30,528 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in MSCI by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,725,215 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $976,009,000 after purchasing an additional 151,108 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in MSCI by 14.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $749,422,000 after purchasing an additional 179,508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,038,761 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $587,575,000 after purchasing an additional 44,234 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $569.53.

MSCI Company 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.