DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main Sells 468 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main reduced its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 17.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,241 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 468 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main's holdings in MSCI were worth $1,345,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company's stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,227,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company's stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,995,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 712 shares of the technology company's stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America began coverage on MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $645.36.

MSCI Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $556.15 on Monday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $548.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $579.66. The company has a market capitalization of $43.03 billion, a PE ratio of 39.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $475.32 and a 52 week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.48%.

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.

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