MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Sold by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 36.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,859 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,196 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 375 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $215,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 568 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,074 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $616,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,074 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $616,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AdvisorShares Investments LLC grew its position in MSCI by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC now owns 830 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSCI. Barclays lifted their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $690.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. UBS Group set a $615.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $690.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $730.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $709.50.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $562.17 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.75, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $592.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $575.78. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $501.08 and a 52 week high of $644.77.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $4.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.99 by ($0.05). MSCI had a negative return on equity of 55.19% and a net margin of 40.74%.The firm had revenue of $867.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $870.71 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.17 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 19.61 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 44.86%.

MSCI Profile

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.