Advisory Services Network LLC Has $622,000 Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Advisory Services Network LLC reduced its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 50.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,036 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,059 shares during the quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $622,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $609,937,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of MSCI by 169.4% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 507,413 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $304,453,000 after acquiring an additional 319,083 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $185,003,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $126,082,000. Finally, Canoe Financial LP lifted its stake in MSCI by 700.4% in the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 186,131 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $111,680,000 after buying an additional 162,877 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $623.00 to $532.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America assumed coverage on MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $646.58.

MSCI Trading Up 1.0 %

MSCI stock opened at $556.53 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $560.93 and its 200-day moving average is $586.46. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $43.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.58, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value 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 $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,542,084.75. The trade was a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Company 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.