MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Rathbones Group PLC

Key Points

• Rathbones Group PLC reduced its holdings in MSCI Inc by 2.7%, selling 1,586 shares and retaining a total of 58,155 shares valued at approximately $32.89 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Menard Financial Group and Johnson Financial Group, recently modified their stakes in MSCI, with a significant number of shares being acquired.
• MSCI announced a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, payable on August 29th, representing an annualized amount of $7.20 and a dividend yield of 1.3%.

Rathbones Group PLC reduced its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,155 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,586 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC owned approximately 0.08% of MSCI worth $32,887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $263,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its position in MSCI by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 10,288 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,173,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in MSCI by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 5,557 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,335,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 19,824 shares of the technology company's stock worth $11,894,000 after buying an additional 492 shares during the period. Finally, Value Partners Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 4,285 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,571,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSCI. UBS Group lifted their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $654.73.

MSCI Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $0.95 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $566.48. 362,921 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 607,133. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $486.73 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $562.08 and a 200-day moving average of $562.09.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%. The company had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.64 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued 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 is presently 47.68%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 84 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $548.69 per share, for a total transaction of $46,089.96. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,296,314.19. This represents a 0.01% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last three months, insiders acquired 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Company Profile

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.