Sentry Investment Management LLC Lowers Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Sentry Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 66.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 115 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 229 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $69,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in MSCI by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,860,925,000 after purchasing an additional 11,351 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 16.9% during the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after purchasing an additional 318,214 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,082,594,000 after buying an additional 13,691 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in MSCI by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $967,820,000 after buying an additional 119,471 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in MSCI by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $925,531,000 after buying an additional 198,666 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $581.09 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $594.03 and its 200 day moving average is $588.93. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $45.12 billion, a PE ratio of 41.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

MSCI Company 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.