Squarepoint Ops LLC Has $3.35 Million Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Squarepoint Ops LLC lowered its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 32.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,584 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 2,722 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $3,350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,136,563,000 after purchasing an additional 35,094 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company's stock worth $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp grew its holdings in MSCI by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company's stock worth $689,180,000 after purchasing an additional 49,679 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $609,937,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 853,452 shares of the technology company's stock worth $512,079,000 after purchasing an additional 25,325 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 $2.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $563.57. The company had a trading volume of 631,875 shares, compared to its average volume of 513,186. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $550.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $577.55. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $475.32 and a one year 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. The business had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. On average, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. MSCI's payout ratio is presently 49.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America initiated coverage on MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $645.36.

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.