MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by National Bank of Canada FI

National Bank of Canada FI lowered its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 48.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 101,081 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 95,067 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned approximately 0.13% of MSCI worth $57,165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,302,610,000 after acquiring an additional 518,833 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 0.9% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,626,923 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $920,026,000 after acquiring an additional 13,918 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in MSCI by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 784,490 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $470,702,000 after acquiring an additional 48,524 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 0.6% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 590,892 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $334,149,000 after acquiring an additional 3,335 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 4.7% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 521,378 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $294,839,000 after acquiring an additional 23,452 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial upgraded MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.73.

MSCI Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE MSCI opened at $546.73 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $562.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $563.34. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $42.30 billion, a PE ratio of 36.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.64 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $548.69 per share, for a total transaction of $46,089.96. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,296,314.19. The trade was a 0.01% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders bought 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.