Nordea Investment Management AB Sells 164,330 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Nordea Investment Management AB lowered its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 15.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 868,294 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 164,330 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB owned approximately 1.11% of MSCI worth $524,415,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in MSCI by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,860,925,000 after purchasing an additional 11,351 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after purchasing an additional 318,214 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,082,594,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in MSCI by 14.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $925,531,000 after buying an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $870,627,000 after acquiring an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $680.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $645.67.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

MSCI Trading Down 0.7 %

MSCI stock traded down $4.39 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $597.09. The company had a trading volume of 359,369 shares, compared to its average volume of 331,123. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $46.79 billion, a PE ratio of 39.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $601.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $567.52.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. MSCI's revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.45 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. MSCI's payout ratio is 42.02%.

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.