Cynosure Group LLC Cuts Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Cynosure Group LLC lessened its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 26.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 559 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 201 shares during the quarter. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in MSCI by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,991,000 after purchasing an additional 41,346 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 176.2% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $921,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC raised its position in MSCI by 3,581.3% in the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,060,000 after buying an additional 1,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 76.3% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,295 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $576.39 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $44.76 billion, a PE ratio of 41.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $576.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $588.91.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm earned $3.68 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

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.