Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 261 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 31 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 5,600.0% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $505.42 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $553.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $538.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $451.55 and a 1-year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.29 by $0.39. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. The business had revenue of $690.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $662.64 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.84 earnings per share. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on MSCI. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $581.57.

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.