MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Sold by Conning Inc.

Conning Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 437 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 22 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 39.2% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,762 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $996,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 8.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 894 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 13.6% in the first quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 868 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $491,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its holdings in MSCI by 13.2% in the first quarter. CX Institutional now owns 447 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at $678,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $546.69 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $486.73 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $42.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $564.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $559.22.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $763.06 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of 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 decreased their price objective 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. Seaport Res Ptn raised MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $548.69 per share, for a total transaction of $46,089.96. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,296,314.19. The trade was a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders acquired 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 over the last three months. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.