Fiera Capital Corp Reduces Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Fiera Capital Corp decreased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,310,640 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 119,893 shares during the period. MSCI accounts for 2.3% of Fiera Capital Corp's holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Fiera Capital Corp owned 1.66% of MSCI worth $741,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bamco Inc. NY lifted 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 acquiring an additional 15,184 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 30,528 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in MSCI by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company's stock worth $749,422,000 after buying an additional 179,508 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 959,894 shares of the technology company's stock worth $492,502,000 after buying an additional 235,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 819,422 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $463,506,000 after acquiring an additional 57,342 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MSCI shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Bank of America raised MSCI from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MSCI from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $570.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

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

MSCI Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:MSCI traded up $7.82 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $505.33. The company had a trading volume of 874,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 589,965. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $517.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $535.73. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.49, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.09.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

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.

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