IFM Investors Pty Ltd Raises Stock Position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 9.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,878 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,432 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in MSCI were worth $9,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in MSCI by 293.8% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its holdings in MSCI by 122.6% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in MSCI during the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in MSCI by 147.2% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 89 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 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 MSCI 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 directly owned 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $160,133,398.33. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $645.36.

MSCI Trading Up 0.8%

MSCI traded up $4.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $587.34. 268,232 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 510,435. The company has a market cap of $45.44 billion, a PE ratio of 40.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.32. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $561.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $569.92. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $486.74 and a 1 year high of $642.45.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a net margin of 39.08% and a negative return on equity of 145.52%. The company had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $746.45 million. Equities analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. 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.