RFG Advisory LLC Sells 161 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

RFG Advisory LLC reduced its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 919 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 161 shares during the quarter. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust grew its holdings in MSCI by 52.4% in the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,779 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in MSCI by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,991,000 after purchasing an additional 41,346 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $312,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,050 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 339.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,834 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,642,000 after buying an additional 20,730 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSCI. UBS Group dropped their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI started coverage on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $623.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $48.89 billion, a PE ratio of 40.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $605.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $579.61.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About MSCI

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.