Townsquare Capital LLC Sells 1,845 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Townsquare Capital LLC lessened its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,875 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,845 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $28,126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in MSCI by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $104,991,000 after acquiring an additional 41,346 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in MSCI by 4.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $312,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,050 shares during the last quarter. Nvwm LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% in the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,719 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 76.3% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Threadgill Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 255.4% during the 4th quarter. Threadgill Financial LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $770,000 after buying an additional 922 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 2.7 %

MSCI stock opened at $542.26 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $42.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $562.15 and a 200-day moving average of $586.71.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share 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 company posted $3.68 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share 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 issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is 51.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on MSCI from $623.00 to $532.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $646.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following 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 trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.