Pier Capital LLC Sells 278 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Pier Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,656 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 278 shares during the quarter. Pier Capital LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $994,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSCI. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $104,991,000 after purchasing an additional 41,346 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in MSCI by 4.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $312,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,050 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 176.2% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% during the fourth quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after buying an additional 1,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 76.3% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,795,000 after buying an additional 1,295 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $566.72 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $581.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $588.73. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.01 billion, a PE ratio of 40.31, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $3.68 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. 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 dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

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.