Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. Trims Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. reduced its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 47,912 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 145 shares during the period. MSCI makes up 1.5% of Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $27,101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bamco Inc. NY raised its position in MSCI by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,260,105 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,159,615,000 after purchasing an additional 15,184 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in MSCI by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,893,728 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $971,634,000 after purchasing an additional 30,528 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in MSCI by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $749,422,000 after purchasing an additional 179,508 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 959,894 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $492,502,000 after purchasing an additional 235,290 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in MSCI by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 767,297 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $393,686,000 after purchasing an additional 7,183 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $562.87.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI traded up $18.81 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $464.81. The stock had a trading volume of 2,230,013 shares, compared to its average volume of 529,352. The company has a market capitalization of $36.82 billion, a PE ratio of 32.28, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $617.39. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $545.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $538.56.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.14 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.44%.

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.