MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Ycg LLC

YCG LLC reduced its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 89,294 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 6,518 shares during the period. MSCI accounts for about 4.2% of YCG LLC's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. YCG LLC owned 0.11% of MSCI worth $50,509,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 100 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. KB Financial Partners LLC raised its position in MSCI by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. KB Financial Partners LLC now owns 253 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Balentine LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 572 shares of the technology company's stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its position in MSCI by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 412 shares of the technology company's stock worth $190,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its position in MSCI by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,027 shares of the technology company's stock worth $478,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSCI. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays upped their price target on MSCI from $600.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $581.57.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $7.87 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $526.62. 386,164 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 444,810. The firm has a market cap of $41.72 billion, a PE ratio of 36.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.06. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $560.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $538.90. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $451.55 and a 1-year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.29 by $0.39. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 111.17% and a net margin of 45.42%. The firm had revenue of $690.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $662.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.84 earnings per share. MSCI's revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. This is a boost from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. MSCI's payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

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.