Flossbach Von Storch SE Has $176.39 Million Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Flossbach Von Storch SE reduced its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 10.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 293,972 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 33,100 shares during the quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE owned about 0.38% of MSCI worth $176,386,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning increased its holdings in MSCI by 15.6% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,090 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its holdings in MSCI by 4.8% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 566 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 15.0% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 6.8% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,248 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $728,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 15.8% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 945 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $551,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Trading Up 0.3 %

MSCI stock opened at $574.18 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $599.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $587.27. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $44.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by 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.