Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Sells 162 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich decreased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,923 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 162 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,653,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in MSCI by 803.9% in the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 587,978 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $331,906,000 after buying an additional 522,926 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 59.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 762,080 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $391,008,000 after buying an additional 284,513 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 32.5% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 959,894 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $492,502,000 after buying an additional 235,290 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 468.7% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 244,267 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $125,329,000 after buying an additional 201,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in MSCI by 14.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $749,422,000 after buying an additional 179,508 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $477.78 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $541.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $537.78. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39. The firm has a market cap of $37.85 billion, a PE ratio of 32.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSCI. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, January 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $530.00 to $425.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $562.87.

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.