World Equity Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

World Equity Group Inc. reduced its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 49.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 642 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 622 shares during the quarter. World Equity Group Inc.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $363,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $609,937,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 16,353.6% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 587,557 shares of the technology company's stock worth $352,539,000 after purchasing an additional 583,986 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 61,179.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company's stock worth $285,892,000 after buying an additional 504,732 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in MSCI by 3,881.3% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $251,662,000 after buying an additional 408,894 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in MSCI by 169.4% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 507,413 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $304,453,000 after buying an additional 319,083 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on 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 report on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $645.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This trade represents a 1.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $544.79 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $478.33 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The company has a fifty day moving average of $554.33 and a 200-day moving average of $572.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. MSCI had a net margin of 39.08% and a negative return on equity of 145.52%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. MSCI's payout ratio is 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.

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