MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Stock Holdings Cut by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp trimmed its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 11.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,184 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 3,329 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp's holdings in MSCI were worth $14,245,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 5,600.0% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit acquired 7,500 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,052,254.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $3.95 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $469.74. The company had a trading volume of 920,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 562,034. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $536.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $536.91. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $37.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.06, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.06.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.14 earnings per share. MSCI's revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.59 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the topic of several research reports. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $569.53.

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.