DF Dent & Co. Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

DF Dent & Co. Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,023 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,837 shares during the period. DF Dent & Co. Inc. owned about 0.09% of MSCI worth $40,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the technology company's stock worth $251,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company's stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,227,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,995,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $647.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI traded up $10.87 on Tuesday, hitting $517.43. 208,300 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 561,572. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $570.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $588.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted 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 net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. This is an increase from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

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.