MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Sold by Sowell Financial Services LLC

Sowell Financial Services LLC lessened its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 550 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 41 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $317,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 355.7% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 660,690 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $365,976,000 after buying an additional 515,713 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 61,179.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $285,892,000 after acquiring an additional 504,732 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its position in shares of 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 worth $129,903,000 after acquiring an additional 212,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the first quarter worth approximately $119,408,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $548.69 per share, for a total transaction of $46,089.96. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares in the company, valued at $702,296,314.19. This represents a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders purchased 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599 in the last quarter. 3.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $564.96 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.71 billion, a PE ratio of 37.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $562.29 and a 200-day moving average of $559.14. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $486.73 and a one year high of $642.45.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $652.45.

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.