King Luther Capital Management Corp Reduces Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

King Luther Capital Management Corp lowered its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,639 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 22 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter worth $434,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 819,422 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $463,506,000 after purchasing an additional 57,342 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 218,623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $124,786,000 after purchasing an additional 35,277 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 13,659.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 10,182 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,759,000 after purchasing an additional 10,108 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. Bank of America raised MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Barclays lowered their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Wolfe Research began coverage on MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $570.53.

MSCI Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded down $1.68 during trading on Friday, reaching $488.72. 73,143 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 593,000. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $513.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $536.31. The stock has a market cap of $38.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.09.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted 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 business had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the purchase, 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 this link. In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 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.