Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Lowers Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,301 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 279 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $10,352,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter worth $434,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 218,623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $124,786,000 after acquiring an additional 35,277 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 13,659.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 10,182 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,759,000 after acquiring an additional 10,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 3.0% in the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 430,676 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $220,971,000 after acquiring an additional 12,495 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI traded down $0.16 during trading on Thursday, hitting $464.49. 1,468,921 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 541,102. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $543.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $538.04. The firm has a market cap of $36.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 111.33% and a net margin of 44.55%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MSCI shares. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $562.87.

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.