Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 1,968 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Alliancebernstein L.P. decreased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 257,775 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,968 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.34% of MSCI worth $146,264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 100.0% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 68 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $50,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $524.18 per share, with a total value of $3,145,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,493,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $782,625,376.46. This represents a 0.40% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price objective for the company. Evercore lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group set a $638.00 target price on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $671.78.

MSCI Stock Up 0.4%

MSCI stock opened at $549.88 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $568.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $564.62. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $626.28. The company has a market capitalization of $40.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.04. MSCI had a net margin of 38.36% and a negative return on equity of 82.59%. The company had revenue of $822.53 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $819.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.18 EPS. MSCI’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.26%.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.