Fisher Funds Management LTD Decreases Position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Fisher Funds Management LTD decreased its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 6.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 129,461 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 8,480 shares during the quarter. MSCI comprises 1.8% of Fisher Funds Management LTD's portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Fisher Funds Management LTD owned about 0.17% of MSCI worth $73,210,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $609,937,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 16,353.6% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 61,179.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company's stock worth $285,892,000 after buying an additional 504,732 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in MSCI by 3,881.3% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company's stock worth $251,662,000 after buying an additional 408,894 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in MSCI by 169.4% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 507,413 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $304,453,000 after buying an additional 319,083 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of MSCI opened at $587.34 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $560.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $570.28. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.74 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $45.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.32.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 145.52% and a net margin of 39.08%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MSCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $645.36.

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.

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