Deutsche Bank AG Cuts Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Deutsche Bank AG cut its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 475,316 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 43,990 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG owned about 0.61% of MSCI worth $285,194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its stake in MSCI by 122.6% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Bridgefront Capital LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 78.8% during the fourth quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC now owns 1,398 shares of the technology company's stock worth $839,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in MSCI by 43.5% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,352 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,411,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $7,200,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction 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 $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $12.20 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $568.76. 431,557 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 526,219. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $548.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $579.66. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $475.32 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. On average, research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSCI. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note 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, the company currently 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.