Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Reduces Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI cut its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 725 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 20 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings in MSCI were worth $435,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter worth $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter worth $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Up 0.9 %

MSCI stock opened at $572.61 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $44.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.73, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $591.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $589.97.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 in the previous year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. 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. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of 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 set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.