Vontobel Holding Ltd. Sells 6,080 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lessened its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 17.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,527 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,080 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $17,716,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSCI. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays cut their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $572.78 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The company has a fifty day moving average of $602.42 and a 200-day moving average of $586.05. The company has a market capitalization of $44.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.