Securian Asset Management Inc. Reduces Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Securian Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,237 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after buying an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.0% during the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 669 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.9% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 176,205 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $102,715,000 after buying an additional 4,935 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.5 %

MSCI stock opened at $544.29 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $586.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $589.54. The firm has a market cap of $42.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share 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 last year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSCI. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target 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 given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

About MSCI

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.