MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Oak Ridge Investments LLC

Oak Ridge Investments LLC trimmed its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 11.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,100 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 141 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $616,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Evoke Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 13,720 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,761,000 after purchasing an additional 2,135 shares during the last quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $959,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $904,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 819,422 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $463,506,000 after acquiring an additional 57,342 shares during the period. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $2,755,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America raised shares of MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $570.53.

MSCI Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $4.23 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $495.24. The stock had a trading volume of 384,929 shares, compared to its average volume of 459,563. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39. The company has a market capitalization of $39.23 billion, a PE ratio of 33.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $486.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $529.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The company had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

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.