Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. Raises Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 15.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,638 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,590 shares during the quarter. MSCI makes up 1.0% of Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $15,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Net Worth Advisory Group grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 6.2% in the first quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group now owns 670 shares of the technology company's stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 1,373 shares of the technology company's stock worth $776,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 9,988 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,648,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. CX Institutional raised its stake in MSCI by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. CX Institutional now owns 447 shares of the technology company's stock worth $253,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in MSCI by 32.1% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 231,094 shares of the technology company's stock worth $130,684,000 after acquiring an additional 56,112 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America initiated coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $645.36.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $13.23 on Friday, reaching $541.96. The company had a trading volume of 465,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 507,620. The firm has a market cap of $41.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $553.30 and its two-hundred 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.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. The company had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $746.45 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

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.