Franklin Resources Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 10.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 555,493 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 65,199 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.71% of MSCI worth $333,302,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in MSCI by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 249,035 shares of the technology company's stock worth $149,423,000 after purchasing an additional 39,978 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 12,818 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,691,000 after acquiring an additional 1,606 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 276,297 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $165,781,000 after acquiring an additional 13,360 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in MSCI by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 226,303 shares of the technology company's stock worth $135,784,000 after acquiring an additional 34,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in MSCI by 169.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 507,413 shares of the technology company's stock worth $304,453,000 after purchasing an additional 319,083 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $649.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI traded down $32.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $543.92. 631,673 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 556,745. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $576.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $588.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.24 billion, a PE ratio of 38.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a positive change 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 of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

MSCI Company 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.