AXS Investments LLC Decreases Stock Position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

AXS Investments LLC reduced its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,238 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 23 shares during the quarter. AXS Investments LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 16,353.6% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 587,557 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $352,539,000 after acquiring an additional 583,986 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,302,610,000 after buying an additional 518,833 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 61,179.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $285,892,000 after buying an additional 504,732 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in MSCI by 3,881.3% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $251,662,000 after buying an additional 408,894 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in MSCI by 605,802.9% during the first quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 212,066 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $129,903,000 after buying an additional 212,031 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,296,314.19. The trade was a 0.01% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders bought 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $547.42 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $563.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $564.29. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $486.73 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $42.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%. The company had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.64 EPS. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 47.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $654.73.

MSCI 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.