Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC Decreases Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 73.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 763 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,095 shares during the period. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 30.0% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $329,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 52.4% in the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,779 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,203,000 after buying an additional 1,299 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $104,991,000 after buying an additional 41,346 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 339.6% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,834 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,642,000 after buying an additional 20,730 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $579.13 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $45.39 billion, a PE ratio of 41.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $605.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $584.53.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. 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 boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is 51.21%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.