Institute for Wealth Management LLC. Cuts Stake in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Institute for Wealth Management LLC. decreased its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,724 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 53 shares during the period. Institute for Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $994,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,626,923 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $920,026,000 after purchasing an additional 13,918 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,008,778 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $570,464,000 after purchasing an additional 19,846 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 11.9% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 890,123 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $513,370,000 after purchasing an additional 94,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 804,640 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $455,024,000 after purchasing an additional 20,150 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $552.81 on Thursday. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.77 billion, a PE ratio of 36.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $563.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $559.63.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.64 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 47.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 9,916 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $544.70 per share, for a total transaction of $5,401,245.20. Following 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. UBS Group upped 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $652.45.

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.