Cd Baer Pettit Sells 5,000 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Stock

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,542,084.75. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $1.65 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $505.79. 1,085,612 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 575,647. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $572.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $588.66. The firm has a market cap of $39.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share 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 quarter last year, the company earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS 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 given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $647.31.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $870,627,000 after acquiring an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in MSCI by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 9,645 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,621,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 176.2% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 28,791 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,806,000 after buying an additional 2,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Insigneo Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $360,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

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.