Flputnam Investment Management Co. Reduces Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. lowered its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,403 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 120 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSCI. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $434,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in MSCI by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in MSCI by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 218,623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $124,786,000 after buying an additional 35,277 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its position in MSCI by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 430,676 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $220,971,000 after buying an additional 12,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in MSCI by 13,659.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 10,182 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,759,000 after buying an additional 10,108 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $511.83 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $40.55 billion, a PE ratio of 35.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $451.55 and a 1-year high of $617.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $555.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $539.07.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.29 by $0.39. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. The business had revenue of $690.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $662.64 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Redburn Atlantic downgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com cut MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $581.57.

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.