MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Transform Wealth LLC

Transform Wealth LLC lessened its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 11.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,823 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,464 shares during the quarter. Transform Wealth LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $6,626,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Evoke Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 13,720 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,761,000 after purchasing an additional 2,135 shares in the last quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $959,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 819,422 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $463,506,000 after acquiring an additional 57,342 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $904,000. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,755,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock traded down $2.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $484.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 173,971 shares, compared to its average volume of 585,566. The company has a market capitalization of $38.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $617.39. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $486.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $531.54.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. Bank of America upgraded shares of MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $570.53.

MSCI 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.