American Century Companies Inc. Sells 185,817 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 746,632 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 185,817 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.99% of MSCI worth $423,646,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,599,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 509 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $289,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 0.6% in the third quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 3,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,872,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC grew its position in MSCI by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $628,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction of $247,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,639 shares in the company, valued at $11,901,450. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 10,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $536.13 per share, with a total value of $5,473,887.30. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,487,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $797,250,508.11. This trade represents a 0.69% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders bought 19,300 shares of company stock valued at $10,261,957. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI opened at $570.93 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $572.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $565.28. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $626.28.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th were given a dividend of $2.05 per share. 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 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $715.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price objective for the company. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $671.78.

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.