AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Sells 53,221 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 18.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 236,884 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 53,221 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned about 0.30% of MSCI worth $142,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 941 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $549,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the period. CX Institutional bought a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $224,000. Creative Planning increased its holdings in MSCI by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,090 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,465,000 after buying an additional 1,499 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in MSCI by 50.6% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 953 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $555,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in MSCI by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 17,538 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,223,000 after buying an additional 1,107 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $572.78 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $602.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $586.05. The firm has a market cap of $44.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.74, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

MSCI Company 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.