Vident Advisory LLC Buys 752 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Vident Advisory LLC grew its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 10.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,694 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 752 shares during the quarter. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $4,617,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 1.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $689,180,000 after purchasing an additional 49,679 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $609,937,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 853,452 shares of the technology company's stock worth $512,079,000 after purchasing an additional 25,325 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $4.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $559.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 226,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 515,594. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $475.32 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $43.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.77, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $551.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $578.85.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. The business had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $746.45 million. Equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 49.48%.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $645.36.

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.