Corient Private Wealth LLC Lowers Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Corient Private Wealth LLC decreased its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 73,774 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,192 shares during the quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC owned approximately 0.09% of MSCI worth $44,266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $870,627,000 after buying an additional 37,340 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter worth $207,000. Huntington National Bank boosted its position in MSCI by 12.7% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 382 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 3.5% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,471 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 64,524 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,613,000 after purchasing an additional 9,651 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 2.0 %

MSCI stock opened at $565.99 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $583.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $589.04. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.95 billion, a PE ratio of 40.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.68 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. 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. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired 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 in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

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.