Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Sells 481 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 49.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 484 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 481 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd’s holdings in MSCI were worth $290,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised 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 worth $104,991,000 after buying an additional 41,346 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $312,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,050 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 176.2% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC grew its position in MSCI by 3,581.3% in the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,719 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 76.3% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,795,000 after buying an additional 1,295 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $647.31.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $505.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $39.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $570.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $588.31.

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 net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.68 EPS. Analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

About MSCI

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.