Xponance Inc. Has $8.98 Million Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Xponance Inc. lessened its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,882 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 24 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $8,984,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $378,140,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in MSCI by 312.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 852,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $428,913,000 after purchasing an additional 646,050 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its position in MSCI by 803.9% in the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 587,978 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $331,906,000 after purchasing an additional 522,926 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 254.1% in the 3rd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 469,660 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $240,973,000 after purchasing an additional 337,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in MSCI by 32.1% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,281,834 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $717,432,000 after purchasing an additional 311,370 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $2.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $508.04. 31,874 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 454,223. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $451.55 and a 52 week high of $617.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $553.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $538.84. The company has a market cap of $40.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.06.

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. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 111.17% and a net margin of 45.42%. The firm had revenue of $690.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $662.64 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $1.60 dividend. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. StockNews.com cut MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Wolfe Research began coverage on MSCI in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $581.57.

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.