Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Lowers Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD trimmed its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 36.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 286,186 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 162,747 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.37% of MSCI worth $171,715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 226,663 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $136,038,000 after acquiring an additional 40,246 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,057,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at $312,000. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 31.5% in the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 29,275 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $17,565,000 after buying an additional 7,012 shares during the period. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 180,156 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $108,096,000 after acquiring an additional 4,381 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at $154,542,084.75. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays cut their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $645.36.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI traded up $8.00 during trading on Friday, hitting $554.07. 119,268 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 535,823. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $552.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $582.08. The company has a market cap of $42.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.41, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $458.69 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. MSCI's payout ratio is 49.48%.

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.