Vident Advisory LLC Has $4.62 Million Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Vident Advisory LLC increased its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 10.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,694 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 752 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,617,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 293.8% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 122.6% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 122.7% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 125.0% during the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 99 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $570.54 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $475.32 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $44.14 billion, a PE ratio of 40.58, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $551.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $579.16.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $746.45 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 49.48%.

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.