Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Lowers Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd cut its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 66.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 51 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 102 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in MSCI were worth $29,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter worth $111,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,795 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in MSCI by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 165 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc boosted its position in MSCI by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 17,792 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,064,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the period. Finally, National Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter worth $441,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $477.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $37.85 billion, a PE ratio of 32.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $541.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $537.78. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.14 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.59 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. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. 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 1.34%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $562.87.

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.