Vident Advisory LLC Has $4.62 Million Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,694 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the quarter. Vident Advisory LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,617,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,136,563,000 after acquiring an additional 35,094 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in MSCI by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $967,820,000 after acquiring an additional 119,471 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in MSCI by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $689,180,000 after acquiring an additional 49,679 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth about $609,937,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 853,452 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $512,079,000 after purchasing an additional 25,325 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE MSCI opened at $570.54 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $551.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $579.16. The company has a market cap of $44.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $475.32 and a 1 year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. Equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays cut their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $645.36.

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.