Rhumbline Advisers Trims Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 148,323 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 3,916 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.19% of MSCI worth $88,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Center for Financial Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $87,000. PUREfi Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $322,000. GFG Capital LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth approximately $204,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at $1,180,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Up 0.3 %

MSCI stock traded up $1.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $574.18. The company had a trading volume of 596,156 shares, compared to its average volume of 548,198. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $599.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $587.27. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $44.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 company earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. 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 dividend yield of 1.25%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.