Edgewood Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Edgewood Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,032,434 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 163,205 shares during the quarter. MSCI makes up 3.5% of Edgewood Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Edgewood Management LLC owned approximately 2.59% of MSCI worth $1,219,481,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after purchasing an additional 37,340 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at $401,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in MSCI by 2.1% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 9,645 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,621,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 176.2% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $921,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 31,141 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $18,153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,561 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Stock Down 6.7 %

MSCI opened at $507.57 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $572.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $588.40. The company has a market cap of $39.41 billion, a PE ratio of 36.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $647.31.

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.