Norden Group LLC Sells 218 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Norden Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,620 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 218 shares during the quarter. Norden Group LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,860,925,000 after purchasing an additional 11,351 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 16.9% in the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,279,904,000 after purchasing an additional 318,214 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,082,594,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 14.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $925,531,000 after purchasing an additional 198,666 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $590.15 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $593.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $589.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.83 billion, a PE ratio of 41.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays reduced their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.