Metis Global Partners LLC Sells 335 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Metis Global Partners LLC reduced its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,556 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 335 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 5,600.0% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 100 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays reduced their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $569.53.

MSCI Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $470.72 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $528.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $536.16. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $37.29 billion, a PE ratio of 32.13, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.09.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.