MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Great Lakes Retirement Inc.

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. cut its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 608 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 65 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $344,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RB Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 16.5% during the first quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $642,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Markel Corp lifted its holdings in MSCI by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 141,700 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $71,258,000 after purchasing an additional 4,700 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its position in shares of MSCI by 42.2% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,237 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 1,831 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $921,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 1st quarter worth approximately $701,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of MSCI traded up $3.64 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $560.64. The stock had a trading volume of 224,083 shares, compared to its average volume of 458,131. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $565.42 and a 200 day moving average of $537.61. The company has a market cap of $44.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.07. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $451.55 and a 52 week high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.29 by $0.39. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. The firm had revenue of $690.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $662.64 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.8 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSCI. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $572.00 to $601.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on MSCI from $600.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley upgraded MSCI from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $526.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $588.00 to $638.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $578.21.

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.