MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Position Trimmed by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 186,049 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 19,984 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of MSCI worth $105,239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at $26,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in MSCI by 5,600.0% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 100 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $0.66 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $467.04. 822,345 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 567,583. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39. The company's 50-day moving average price is $534.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $536.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.09.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The business had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.14 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut MSCI from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised MSCI from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $569.53.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit acquired 7,500 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the transaction, 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. Insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

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.