Aurora Investment Managers LLC. Sells 115 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Aurora Investment Managers LLC. lowered its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,730 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 115 shares during the quarter. MSCI makes up approximately 1.3% of Aurora Investment Managers LLC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Aurora Investment Managers LLC.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of MSCI by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 220 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. LVW Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 1,460 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $876,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust grew its holdings in MSCI by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,902 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,341,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $274,000. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 461 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective for the company. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.67.

MSCI Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $612.25 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $47.98 billion, a PE ratio of 40.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $603.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $575.23.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

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.