Select Equity Group L.P. Lowers Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Select Equity Group L.P. trimmed its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 23.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,676 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 13,187 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. owned approximately 0.05% of MSCI worth $25,606,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock worth $312,574,000 after acquiring an additional 23,050 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% during the fourth quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,060,000 after acquiring an additional 1,719 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 76.3% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,295 shares during the period. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 78,111 shares of the technology company's stock worth $46,867,000 after acquiring an additional 23,649 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at $278,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSCI. Bank of America began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price 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. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $645.36.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock traded down $2.11 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $570.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 508,004 shares, compared to its average volume of 521,437. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $475.32 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $44.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.58, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $550.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $579.22.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted 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 for 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. 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.