Cetera Investment Advisers Lowers Stock Position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Key Points

• Cetera Investment Advisers reduced its stake in MSCI Inc by 23.7%, selling 2,514 shares, resulting in a total of 8,114 shares valued at $4.59 million.
• Institutional investors collectively own 89.97% of MSCI, with significant increases in holdings from firms like Bessemer Group and GAMMA Investing.
• MSCI reported $4.17 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.80, yielding 1.3%.

Cetera Investment Advisers decreased its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 23.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,114 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 2,514 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in MSCI were worth $4,588,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in MSCI by 16,353.6% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 587,557 shares of the technology company's stock worth $352,539,000 after purchasing an additional 583,986 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 61,179.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $285,892,000 after buying an additional 504,732 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 3,881.3% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $251,662,000 after purchasing an additional 408,894 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 605,802.9% during the first quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 212,066 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $129,903,000 after purchasing an additional 212,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $103,424,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE:MSCI traded down $10.31 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $547.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,064,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 998,048. The firm's 50 day moving average is $563.73 and its 200-day moving average is $564.41. The firm has a market cap of $42.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.29. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $486.73 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $763.06 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%. MSCI's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is 47.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on MSCI. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $654.73.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 9,916 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $544.70 per share, with a total value of $5,401,245.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,867 shares in the company, valued at $697,143,554.90. This trade represents a 0.78% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

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.