MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Sold by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 746,632 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 185,817 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $423,646,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 100.0% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 68 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at $50,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $715.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings raised MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $690.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $671.78.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 10,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $536.13 per share, for a total transaction of $5,473,887.30. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,487,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $797,250,508.11. This represents a 0.69% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction of $247,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,901,450. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 19,300 shares of company stock worth $10,261,957. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 0.3%

MSCI opened at $570.93 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $572.43 and its 200-day moving average is $565.28. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $486.73 and a 52-week high of $626.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.04. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 82.59% and a net margin of 38.36%.The firm had revenue of $822.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $819.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.18 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.26%.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.