Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Cuts Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ trimmed its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,886 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 63 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ owned 0.10% of MSCI worth $45,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. LRI Investments LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its stake in MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $544.29 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $42.27 billion, a PE ratio of 38.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $586.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $589.54.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSCI. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average 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.