Stifel Financial Corp Sells 157 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Stifel Financial Corp trimmed its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,634 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 157 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in MSCI were worth $17,205,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,991,000 after purchasing an additional 41,346 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% during the 4th 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 boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 76.3% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Threadgill Financial LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 255.4% in the fourth quarter. Threadgill Financial LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $770,000 after acquiring an additional 922 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,542,084.75. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSCI. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $645.36.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $535.66 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.60 billion, a PE ratio of 38.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $555.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $583.80. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $458.69 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. As a group, equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 49.48%.

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.