Diversified Trust Co Increases Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,788 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the quarter. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,002,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 165 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 664 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its position in MSCI by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 100 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in MSCI by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,080 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,781 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,139,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, May 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $570.53.

MSCI Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $479.31 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $485.29 and a 200 day moving average of $530.92. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.14 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI 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.