Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Takes Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI acquired a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 502 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $434,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in MSCI by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 218,623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $124,786,000 after purchasing an additional 35,277 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 13,659.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 10,182 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,759,000 after purchasing an additional 10,108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in MSCI by 3.0% during the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 430,676 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $220,971,000 after purchasing an additional 12,495 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the company from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $581.57.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $515.10 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $40.81 billion, a PE ratio of 35.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $550.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $539.55. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $451.55 and a twelve month high of $617.39.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 44.44%.

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.