Ownership Capital B.V. Sells 14,961 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Ownership Capital B.V. lowered its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 209,195 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 14,961 shares during the quarter. MSCI comprises about 4.6% of Ownership Capital B.V.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Ownership Capital B.V. owned 0.27% of MSCI worth $125,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of MSCI by 15.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,090 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,465,000 after acquiring an additional 1,499 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 4.8% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 566 shares of the technology company's stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 15.0% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,351,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 6.8% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,248 shares of the technology company's stock worth $728,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 15.8% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 945 shares of the technology company's stock worth $551,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group lowered their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI traded up $4.36 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $578.71. 565,157 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 554,625. The business's 50-day moving average is $597.17 and its 200-day moving average is $587.09. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 previous year, the business earned $3.68 earnings per share. Analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. This is a positive change from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.