Sustainable Growth Advisers LP Cuts Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lowered its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 17.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 943,676 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 204,493 shares during the period. MSCI makes up about 2.8% of Sustainable Growth Advisers LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP’s holdings in MSCI were worth $566,215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after buying an additional 37,340 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at $234,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.0% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 669 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.9% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 176,205 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $102,715,000 after buying an additional 4,935 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $544.29 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $586.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $589.54. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors 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 yield of 1.32%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

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.