Aviva PLC Sells 33,853 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Aviva PLC decreased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 28.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 87,180 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 33,853 shares during the period. Aviva PLC owned about 0.11% of MSCI worth $52,309,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in MSCI by 0.4% during the third 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,136,563,000 after acquiring an additional 35,094 shares during the period. 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 acquiring an additional 119,471 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in MSCI by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $689,180,000 after purchasing an additional 49,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter worth approximately $609,937,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MSCI Trading Down 6.7 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $507.57 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $572.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $588.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) 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 prior year, the firm earned $3.68 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays decreased their target price on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $647.31.

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.