MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Sold by Ameriprise Financial Inc.

Key Points

• Ameriprise Financial Inc. reduced its stake in MSCI Inc by 26.5%, owning 169,445 shares valued at approximately $95.8 million after selling 60,963 shares in the first quarter.
• Several hedge funds increased their holdings in MSCI, with Vanguard Group boosting its stake by 5.9% to 9.4 million shares, while GAMMA Investing LLC saw a remarkable 61,179.6% increase during the same period.
• MSCI's CEO, Henry A. Fernandez, purchased 84 shares at an average cost of $548.69 per share, increasing his total ownership to 1.28 million shares, valued at approximately $702.3 million.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 26.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 169,445 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 60,963 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.22% of MSCI worth $95,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,302,610,000 after buying an additional 518,833 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 61,179.6% during the first 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 boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 3,881.3% during the fourth 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. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 605,802.9% during the first quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 212,066 shares of the technology company's stock worth $129,903,000 after buying an additional 212,031 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the first quarter worth about $117,879,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $548.69 per share, for a total transaction of $46,089.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,296,314.19. The trade was a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $574.5680 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $44.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.05, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.29. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $563.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $560.08.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The company had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.06 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.64 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSCI. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $654.73.

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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