Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $130.68 Million Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 32.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 231,094 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 56,112 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.30% of MSCI worth $130,684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 293.8% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its stake in MSCI by 122.6% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in MSCI by 147.2% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 89 shares of the technology company's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Down 2.4%

NYSE MSCI traded down $13.23 on Friday, reaching $541.96. The company had a trading volume of 465,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 507,514. The stock's 50 day moving average is $553.30 and its 200-day moving average is $575.36. The stock has a market cap of $41.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $475.32 and a 52 week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays cut their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price target on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $645.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

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.