American Century Companies Inc. Decreases Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

American Century Companies Inc. decreased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 988,932 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 75,295 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 1.26% of MSCI worth $593,369,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in MSCI by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $104,991,000 after acquiring an additional 41,346 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock worth $312,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,050 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 176.2% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company's stock worth $921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC grew its position in MSCI by 3,581.3% in the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,060,000 after buying an additional 1,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 76.3% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,795,000 after buying an additional 1,295 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock traded down $5.27 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $569.35. 455,125 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 529,776. The company has a market capitalization of $44.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.49, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $581.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $588.84. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share 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 dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. This is an increase from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.