Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 819,422 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 57,342 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 1.04% of MSCI worth $463,506,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bamco Inc. NY grew its position in MSCI by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,260,105 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,159,615,000 after purchasing an additional 15,184 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,893,728 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $971,634,000 after acquiring an additional 30,528 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 14.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $749,422,000 after acquiring an additional 179,508 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 32.5% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 959,894 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $492,502,000 after acquiring an additional 235,290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 767,297 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $393,686,000 after buying an additional 7,183 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of MSCI from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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. Bank of America raised shares of MSCI from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $570.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at $6,052,254.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $485.57. 448,440 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 579,503. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $523.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $536.04. The company has a market cap of $38.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.14, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.09. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.14 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders 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 1.32%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.69%.

MSCI Company 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.

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