MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by United Capital Financial Advisors LLC

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC decreased its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,890 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 980 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $10,734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,136,563,000 after purchasing an additional 35,094 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $967,820,000 after buying an additional 119,471 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp grew its holdings in MSCI by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $689,180,000 after acquiring an additional 49,679 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $609,937,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 853,452 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $512,079,000 after acquiring an additional 25,325 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on MSCI from $623.00 to $532.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $646.58.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $556.53 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $560.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $586.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.