MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.
MSCI Trading Down 0.3 %
Shares of MSCI stock opened at $505.79 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $570.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $588.31. The company has a market cap of $39.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.97, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.
MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
MSCI Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. This is a positive change from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 51.21%.
Institutional Trading of MSCI
Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 61,179.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $285,892,000 after purchasing an additional 504,732 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in MSCI by 147.2% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 89 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in MSCI by 35.2% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 296 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $167,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $716,000. Finally, DSG Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth about $346,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several analysts have commented on MSCI shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $647.31.
View Our Latest Research Report on MSCI
MSCI Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
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.
Recommended Stories
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from InsiderTrades.com in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by InsiderTrades.com's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@insidertrades.com.
