Sentry Investment Management LLC Has $166,000 Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Sentry Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 17.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 344 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 71 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Legacy Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 664 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Conning Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.1% in the second quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 479 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in MSCI by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,080 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 3.8% in the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 542 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 5.0% in the second quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 423 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $559.93 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $541.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $522.13. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39. The company has a market capitalization of $44.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The business had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.41 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.26 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Argus lifted their target price on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded MSCI to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $584.79.

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.