MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Sustainable Growth Advisers LP

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lessened its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 99.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,410 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 942,266 shares during the quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP's holdings in MSCI were worth $797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,136,563,000 after acquiring an additional 35,094 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.9% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,626,923 shares of the technology company's stock worth $920,026,000 after purchasing an additional 13,918 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter worth about $609,937,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 853,452 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $512,079,000 after buying an additional 25,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in MSCI by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 784,490 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $470,702,000 after buying an additional 48,524 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America started coverage on MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $650.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock traded up $13.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $543.96. The company had a trading volume of 1,252,005 shares, compared to its average volume of 696,535. The company has a market capitalization of $42.08 billion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $565.50 and a 200 day moving average of $567.07. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $642.45.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

MSCI 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.