Ameriprise Financial Inc. Has $138.24 Million Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. cut its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 230,408 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 2,417 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 0.29% of MSCI worth $138,242,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 41,346 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in MSCI by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 3,581.3% during the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,060,000 after buying an additional 1,719 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC raised 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 worth $1,795,000 after buying an additional 1,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Threadgill Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 255.4% in the 4th quarter. Threadgill Financial LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the technology company's stock worth $770,000 after acquiring an additional 922 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $1.83 on Friday, reaching $556.15. The stock had a trading volume of 379,892 shares, compared to its average volume of 526,600. The business's 50-day moving average price is $548.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $579.73. The stock has a market cap of $43.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $475.32 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. The company had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on MSCI. Barclays dropped their target price on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $645.36.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were 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 owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Company 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.