Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 786 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lowered its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,142 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 786 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in MSCI were worth $13,087,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund boosted its position in MSCI by 43.4% during the 4th quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 78,111 shares of the technology company's stock worth $46,867,000 after acquiring an additional 23,649 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC boosted its position in MSCI by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 59,741 shares of the technology company's stock worth $35,845,000 after acquiring an additional 2,123 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in MSCI by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company's stock worth $689,180,000 after acquiring an additional 49,679 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter worth about $556,000. Finally, GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. boosted its position in MSCI by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 116,611 shares of the technology company's stock worth $69,968,000 after acquiring an additional 1,239 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI traded down $13.23 on Friday, hitting $541.96. The company had a trading volume of 465,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 507,620. The company's fifty day moving average price is $553.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $575.36. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $475.32 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $41.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. On average, sell-side 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 was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America began coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $645.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $154,542,084.75. The trade was a 1.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

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.