Ownership Capital B.V. Has $125.52 Million Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Ownership Capital B.V. lowered its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 209,195 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 14,961 shares during the period. MSCI makes up approximately 4.6% of Ownership Capital B.V.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Ownership Capital B.V. owned about 0.27% of MSCI worth $125,519,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 30.0% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in MSCI by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,991,000 after acquiring an additional 41,346 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $312,574,000 after acquiring an additional 23,050 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 339.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,834 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,642,000 after acquiring an additional 20,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 176.2% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Up 0.3 %

MSCI opened at $574.18 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $44.58 billion, a PE ratio of 40.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day moving average of $599.50 and a 200 day moving average of $587.27.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays reduced their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI 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.