Fisher Asset Management LLC Cuts Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Fisher Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 28.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,147 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 41,781 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned about 0.13% of MSCI worth $61,890,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. LRI Investments LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three 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, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI opened at $590.15 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.83 billion, a PE ratio of 41.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $593.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $589.63.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

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.