Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Sells 1,430 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC reduced its holdings in MSCI Inc by 18.7% during the first quarter, selling 1,430 shares and holding 6,200 shares worth $3,506,000 at the end of the period.
• Multiple large investors, including Guggenheim Capital LLC and First Trust Advisors LP, significantly increased their positions in MSCI during the fourth quarter, with institutional investors now owning 89.97% of the company's stock.
• MSCI recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend of $7.20 and a yield of 1.3%.

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lessened its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 18.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,200 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,430 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $3,506,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its position in MSCI by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 1,861 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,117,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in MSCI by 5,053.6% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 30,406 shares of the technology company's stock worth $18,244,000 after purchasing an additional 29,816 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in MSCI by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 267,049 shares of the technology company's stock worth $160,234,000 after purchasing an additional 5,602 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its position in MSCI by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,215 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,729,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury increased its position in MSCI by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 29,275 shares of the technology company's stock worth $17,565,000 after purchasing an additional 7,012 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $702,296,314.19. This trade represents a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have acquired 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 over the last ninety days. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI cut 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.73.

MSCI Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of MSCI opened at $574.1090 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.29. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $486.73 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $562.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $560.63.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The firm had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The business's revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.64 earnings per share. Analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid 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 of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 47.68%.

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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