TCW Group Inc. Has $8.30 Million Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

TCW Group Inc. trimmed its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 27.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,824 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 5,135 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $8,295,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in MSCI during the third quarter worth $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.8 %

MSCI stock opened at $578.71 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization 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. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $596.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $588.40. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business earned $3.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a 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 51.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently 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.