Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 13,918 Shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 0.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,626,923 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 13,918 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 2.10% of MSCI worth $920,026,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of MSCI by 46.8% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 113 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $255,000. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in MSCI by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,750 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,851,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 29.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 603 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $362,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 117 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $645.36.

MSCI Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of MSCI traded up $4.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $587.34. 268,232 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 510,435. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $486.74 and a one year high of $642.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $561.21 and a 200 day moving average of $570.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.37, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.32.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 EPS 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 business had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $746.45 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.