MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) CFO Sells $252,000.00 in Stock

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) CFO Andrew Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $252,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 22,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,624,640. The trade was a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

MSCI Stock Down 0.1%

MSCI stock traded down $0.72 during trading on Thursday, hitting $556.02. The company had a trading volume of 519,614 shares, compared to its average volume of 647,972. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $486.73 and a 52-week high of $626.28. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $567.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $564.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.44, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $822.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $819.51 million. MSCI had a net margin of 38.36% and a negative return on equity of 82.59%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.18 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 52.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore lifted their target price on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group set a $638.00 price objective on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $674.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 341.7% during the 4th quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 53 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.