Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Lowers Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,672 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 558 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $6,602,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $434,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,324,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 218,623 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $124,786,000 after buying an additional 35,277 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.0% during the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 430,676 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $220,971,000 after buying an additional 12,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 143,742 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $81,308,000 after buying an additional 11,704 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $526.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.72 billion, a PE ratio of 36.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $559.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $538.97. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $451.55 and a twelve month high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.29 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $690.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $662.64 million. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 44.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Edward Jones assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, December 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $620.00 to $470.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.