Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Raises Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 23.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,743 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 722 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV's holdings in MSCI were worth $2,246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 2.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $870,627,000 after purchasing an additional 37,340 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $312,574,000 after acquiring an additional 23,050 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,109 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,865,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Finally, Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $626,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $1.83 during trading on Friday, hitting $556.15. The stock had a trading volume of 379,892 shares, compared to its average volume of 526,600. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $475.32 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $548.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $579.73. The stock has a market cap of $43.03 billion, a PE ratio of 39.56, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced 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 negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. The business had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. Analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $1.80 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 49.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MSCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America initiated coverage on MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. Barclays decreased their target price on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $645.36.

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.