Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Sells 2,372 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd cut its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,928 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 2,372 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd's holdings in MSCI were worth $8,444,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,893,728 shares of the technology company's stock worth $971,634,000 after acquiring an additional 30,528 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company's stock worth $749,422,000 after acquiring an additional 179,508 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,038,761 shares of the technology company's stock worth $587,575,000 after acquiring an additional 44,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 235,290 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $1.70 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $503.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 640,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 592,527. The business's fifty day moving average price is $515.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $536.86. The firm has a market cap of $39.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.09. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year 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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.14 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSCI. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised MSCI from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $570.53.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit acquired 7,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares of the company's stock, valued at $133,705,767.58. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly 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 corporate insiders.

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.