Nuveen Asset Management LLC Lowers Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 20.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 189,099 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 48,758 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned 0.24% of MSCI worth $113,461,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp boosted its stake in MSCI by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 3,302 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,981,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in MSCI by 25.8% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,322 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,193,000 after acquiring an additional 2,115 shares in the last quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 929 shares of the technology company's stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 12,030 shares of the technology company's stock worth $7,217,000 after buying an additional 1,319 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 125.0% during the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 99 shares of the technology company's stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lowered their target price on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $645.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded down $2.11 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $570.54. The company had a trading volume of 508,004 shares, compared to its average volume of 521,630. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $475.32 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $550.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $579.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $746.45 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.48%.

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.