First Horizon Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,875 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 84 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $11,325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,860,925,000 after buying an additional 11,351 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.9% during the 3rd 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during 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. grew its position 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 valued at $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in 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 valued at $925,531,000 after purchasing an additional 198,666 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $578.71 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $596.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $587.95. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (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 period last year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays dropped 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value 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 approximately $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.