DF Dent & Co. Inc. Trims Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

DF Dent & Co. Inc. lessened its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,023 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,837 shares during the period. DF Dent & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of MSCI worth $40,814,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in MSCI by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $104,991,000 after buying an additional 41,346 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $312,574,000 after acquiring an additional 23,050 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 176.2% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 3,581.3% in the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in MSCI by 76.3% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Trading Up 1.6 %

MSCI stock opened at $576.39 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $576.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $588.91. The stock has a market cap of $44.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

MSCI Company 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.