Sunbelt Securities Inc. Has $115,000 Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 47.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 205 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 184 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $115,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in MSCI by 19.5% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 14,410 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,402,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350 shares during the last quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the third quarter worth about $246,000. Shelton Capital Management boosted its holdings in MSCI by 745.1% during the third quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 4,310 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,211,000 after purchasing an additional 3,800 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 2.1% during the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,315 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,832,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EULAV Asset Management boosted its holdings in MSCI by 290.0% during the third quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 74,100 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,019,000 after purchasing an additional 55,100 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Down 1.0 %

MSCI stock opened at $481.75 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $617.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.16 billion, a PE ratio of 32.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $485.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $531.03.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The business had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.14 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSCI. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $570.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit acquired 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, for a total transaction 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.