First Horizon Advisors Inc. Buys 1,553 Shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 8.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,428 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,553 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $11,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Baskin Financial Services Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. now owns 73,258 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $41,427,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the period. Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.3% in the first quarter. Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV now owns 1,585 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $897,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 11.2% during the first quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 2,150 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,216,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new stake in MSCI during the first quarter worth $168,000. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $665,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Bank of America began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $645.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $4.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $587.34. 268,232 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 509,933. The company has a market cap of $45.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.37, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $560.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $570.28. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $486.74 and a 52 week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a net margin of 39.08% and a negative return on equity of 145.52%. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. 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.