Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Sells 2,640 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. decreased its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 186,269 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,640 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $105,363,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in MSCI by 5,600.0% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $513.28 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $556.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $539.26. The company has a market capitalization of $40.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.64, a P/E/G 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $662.64 million. During the same period last 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, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target 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. Edward Jones started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $581.57.

MSCI 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.