Profund Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Profund Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,197 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 26 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $577,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 672 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 657 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of MSCI by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,229 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,959,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 179.2% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 1,318 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $746,000 after buying an additional 846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in MSCI by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 19,265 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,910,000 after buying an additional 4,855 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $562.37 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $551.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $521.62. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.26 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued 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 (DPR) is currently 43.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised MSCI to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.