MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Advisor OS LLC

Advisor OS LLC cut its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 33.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,437 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 709 shares during the quarter. Advisor OS LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $862,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 945 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $551,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 19,331.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 26,232 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,291,000 after buying an additional 26,097 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in MSCI by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,995 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,878,000 after buying an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,878 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,261,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 65.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,419 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,428,000 after acquiring an additional 960 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Down 0.9 %

MSCI stock opened at $579.16 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $594.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $588.98. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

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.