MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. cut its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 33.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,813 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 893 shares during the quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in MSCI by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after acquiring an additional 37,340 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 26.2% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 919 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 76.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 12,209 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,117,000 after purchasing an additional 5,283 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its position in MSCI by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 975 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $568,000 after buying an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in MSCI by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $535.66 on Monday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $458.69 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $555.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $583.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $645.36.

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.