Bell Asset Management Ltd Reduces Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Bell Asset Management Ltd lowered its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,067 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,705 shares during the quarter. Bell Asset Management Ltd's holdings in MSCI were worth $4,240,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at $609,937,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in MSCI by 169.4% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 507,413 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $304,453,000 after acquiring an additional 319,083 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $185,003,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $126,082,000. Finally, Canoe Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 700.4% in the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 186,131 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $111,680,000 after purchasing an additional 162,877 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of MSCI traded up $14.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $542.26. The company had a trading volume of 464,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 569,462. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $562.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $586.71. The stock has a market cap of $42.11 billion, a PE ratio of 38.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

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MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm posted $3.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's payout ratio is 51.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays dropped their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on MSCI from $623.00 to $532.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on MSCI in a research report on Thursday. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $646.58.

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.