MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG trimmed its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,321 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 833 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG's holdings in MSCI were worth $13,980,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position 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. grew 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 period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 176.2% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 3,581.3% during the fourth quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 76.3% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI traded down $24.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $519.88. 489,109 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 557,511. The business's 50 day moving average is $574.71 and its 200-day moving average is $588.59. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI 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 cost 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 in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $647.31.

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.