B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Sells 833 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG trimmed its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,321 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 833 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG's holdings in MSCI were worth $13,980,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its stake in MSCI by 122.7% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $649.23.

MSCI Trading Down 5.6 %

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $32.04 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $543.92. 631,273 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 556,744. The company has a market capitalization of $42.24 billion, a PE ratio of 38.69, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $576.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $588.91.

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, beating 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 quarter last year, the business earned $3.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This is a boost from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI's payout ratio is 51.21%.

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.