Sustainable Growth Advisers LP Has $566.22 Million Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP cut its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 17.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 943,676 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 204,493 shares during the quarter. MSCI makes up 2.8% of Sustainable Growth Advisers LP’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP owned approximately 1.20% of MSCI worth $566,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during 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 in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSCI. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $544.29 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $42.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.71, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $586.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $589.54. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price 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 approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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.