Pier Capital LLC Reduces Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Pier Capital LLC trimmed its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,656 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 278 shares during the period. Pier Capital LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $994,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in MSCI by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after buying an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of MSCI by 66.4% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,401 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth $320,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 31.3% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 17,329 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,102,000 after purchasing an additional 4,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 1,127.9% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 5,759 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,357,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on 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 reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $566.72 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $44.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $581.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $588.73.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast 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 was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

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.