Franklin Resources Inc. Has $377.60 Million Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 620,692 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 67,382 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.79% of MSCI worth $377,601,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 74.9% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $701,522,000 after purchasing an additional 623,712 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 16.9% in the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after acquiring an additional 318,214 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 14.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company's stock worth $925,531,000 after acquiring an additional 198,666 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in MSCI by 358.3% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company's stock worth $77,900,000 after acquiring an additional 104,474 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at $56,101,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of several research reports. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $680.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $634.58.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $10.89 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $625.10. 380,860 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 535,320. The company has a market cap of $48.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.10. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $599.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $554.25.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. MSCI's quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. MSCI's payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

About MSCI

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.