MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Gateway Investment Advisers LLC

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC trimmed its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 51,316 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 802 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC owned about 0.07% of MSCI worth $30,790,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,279,904,000 after acquiring an additional 318,214 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in MSCI by 14.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $925,531,000 after purchasing an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in MSCI by 358.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,900,000 after purchasing an additional 104,474 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at $56,101,000. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 38.8% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 315,887 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $141,991,000 after buying an additional 88,239 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $609.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $602.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $572.89.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.67.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.