Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. Has $7.21 Million Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. decreased its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,011 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $7,207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. LRI Investments LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its holdings in MSCI by 122.7% in the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $565.66 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $43.92 billion, a PE ratio of 40.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $577.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $588.96.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share 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 last year, the company earned $3.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upped 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. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.