MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Sold by GWN Securities Inc.

GWN Securities Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 93.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 972 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 13,527 shares during the period. GWN Securities Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $561,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 499 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 12,410 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth $425,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 194.7% in the 2nd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 6,592 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,802,000 after acquiring an additional 4,355 shares during the period. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 40.2% in the 2nd quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,011 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,160,000 after acquiring an additional 577 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price 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. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Saturday. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $647.70.

MSCI Trading Up 8.4%

NYSE:MSCI opened at $592.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $561.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $559.82. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $45.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.37 by $0.10. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The firm had revenue of $793.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $794.87 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.86 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.68%.

MSCI announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.