London & Capital Asset Management Ltd Decreases Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

London & Capital Asset Management Ltd lowered its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 26,638 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 320 shares during the period. London & Capital Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in MSCI were worth $15,068,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. RB Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 16.5% during the first quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $642,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Markel Corp increased its position in MSCI by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 141,700 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $71,258,000 after acquiring an additional 4,700 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in MSCI by 42.2% in the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,237 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $622,000 after acquiring an additional 367 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 1,831 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $921,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential PLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at about $701,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on MSCI from $600.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Edward Jones assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $581.57.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI traded down $8.27 during trading on Monday, hitting $518.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 76,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 439,838. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $559.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $539.32. The stock has a market cap of $41.06 billion, a PE ratio of 36.57, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $451.55 and a twelve month high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.29 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $690.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $662.64 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 111.17% and a net margin of 45.42%. MSCI’s revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.84 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 44.44%.

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.