United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund Trims Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund decreased its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 94,835 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,803 shares during the quarter. MSCI makes up about 2.1% of United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund owned 0.12% of MSCI worth $54,695,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $61,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 61.7% in the second quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,079 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,199,000 after buying an additional 793 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 34.6% in the second quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 60,083 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,755,000 after acquiring an additional 15,454 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth approximately $365,000. Finally, Choreo LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 30.1% during the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 3,788 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,185,000 after acquiring an additional 877 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings lowered MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $655.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total transaction of $348,454.08. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 15,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,904,006.90. This represents a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $563.15 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $562.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $563.58. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $42.31 billion, a PE ratio of 35.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.34.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $793.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $794.87 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 110.94% and a net margin of 40.03%.MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.86 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 45.63%.

MSCI announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.