MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Stake Cut by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 26.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,389,057 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 508,622 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 1.75% of MSCI worth $669,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Rathbones Group PLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $7,766,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,283 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,063,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC now owns 3,583 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,726,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 32.0% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 241,960 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $116,564,000 after acquiring an additional 58,612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 526.6% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 27,245 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,125,000 after acquiring an additional 22,897 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $566.66 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $544.16 and its 200-day moving average is $521.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.89 billion, a PE ratio of 38.68, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.41 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised MSCI to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays raised their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.00.

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.