Lbp Am Sa Sells 2,861 Shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Lbp Am Sa trimmed its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 21.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,676 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 2,861 shares during the quarter. Lbp Am Sa's holdings in MSCI were worth $6,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 293.8% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 122.6% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $582.10 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $563.79 and a 200-day moving average of $569.76. The company has a market cap of $45.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.32. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $486.74 and a one year high of $642.45.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSCI. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $530.00 to $578.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $651.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 289,787 shares in the company, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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