Nomura Holdings Inc. Takes $1.55 Million Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,583 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,550,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the third 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. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,121 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,873,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Burney Co. lifted its stake in MSCI by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 1,251 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $751,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in shares of MSCI by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 659 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth about $278,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Trading Down 0.8%

MSCI stock traded down $4.54 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $559.34. 45,626 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 517,542. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $475.32 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $551.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $578.85.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 49.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays decreased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $645.36.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $154,542,084.75. The trade was a 1.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

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.