MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) Stock Position Lifted by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,626,923 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 13,918 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $920,026,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in MSCI by 15.4% during the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 142 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Optivise Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.8% during the first quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 540 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 117 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Salvus Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 824 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 289,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $160,133,398.33. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $583.24 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $559.03 and a 200-day moving average of $570.50. The firm has a market cap of $45.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.32. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.74 and a twelve month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 145.52% and a net margin of 39.08%. Equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lowered 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, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.36.

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.