MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Holdings Reduced by Bowie Capital Management LLC

Bowie Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 162,966 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 5,391 shares during the period. MSCI makes up approximately 5.2% of Bowie Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Bowie Capital Management LLC owned 0.21% of MSCI worth $97,781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,136,563,000 after buying an additional 35,094 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company's stock worth $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake 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 during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter worth about $609,937,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $5.69 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $558.36. 526,057 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 528,192. The company has a market cap of $43.20 billion, a PE ratio of 39.71, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $472.38 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $549.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $580.49.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 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 firm had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays decreased their target price on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Bank of America assumed coverage on MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective 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 assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.