Credit Agricole S A Has $19.56 Million Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Credit Agricole S A reduced its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 44.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 34,595 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 28,164 shares during the period. Credit Agricole S A’s holdings in MSCI were worth $19,563,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,302,610,000 after purchasing an additional 518,833 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 61,179.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $285,892,000 after purchasing an additional 504,732 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in MSCI by 3,881.3% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $251,662,000 after purchasing an additional 408,894 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its stake in MSCI by 605,802.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 212,066 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $129,903,000 after purchasing an additional 212,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at about $117,879,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 9,916 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $544.70 per share, with a total value of $5,401,245.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $697,143,554.90. This trade represents a 0.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have purchased 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 over the last quarter. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.73.

MSCI Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of MSCI opened at $567.7820 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $562.07 and its 200-day moving average is $560.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.93 billion, a PE ratio of 37.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The company had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $763.06 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.68%.

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.