Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Buys 70 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,608 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in MSCI were worth $10,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 0.9% in the third quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 1,968 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,227,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. 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 report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $579.13 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $605.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $584.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.39 billion, a PE ratio of 41.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (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 firm posted $3.68 EPS. Analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.85 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.