Insider Selling: MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) General Counsel Sells 2,381 Shares of Company Stock

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) General Counsel Robert Gutowski sold 2,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $623.66, for a total transaction of $1,484,934.46. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 14,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,796,100.64. The trade was a 14.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $2.79 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $618.41. The company had a trading volume of 532,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 639,919. The company has a 50 day moving average of $562.17 and a 200 day moving average of $577.65. The firm has a market cap of $44.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.24. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $501.08 and a 1-year high of $644.77.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 20th. The technology company reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $892.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $887.83 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 50.69% and a net margin of 40.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on MSCI shares. Weiss Ratings cut MSCI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $685.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. UBS Group set a $615.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $655.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, William Blair set a $680.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $682.12.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Burkett Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 200.0% in the third quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 48 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth $27,000. Compound Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth $34,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Washington Trust Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) is a global provider of investment decision-support tools and services for institutional investors, asset managers, banks and other financial institutions. The company is best known for developing equity, fixed-income and multi-asset indexes used to benchmark portfolios and support the creation of investment products such as exchange-traded funds.

In addition to its indexes, MSCI provides portfolio analytics, risk-management and performance-attribution tools, as well as research and data covering environmental, social and governance factors, climate risk and sustainable investing.