MSCI Inc $MSCI Stock Holdings Decreased by Hhlr Advisors LTD.

Key Points

• Hhlr Advisors LTD. reduced its stake in MSCI Inc by 41.7%, selling 1,522 shares, leaving them with a total of 2,128 shares valued at approximately $1.2 million.
• Various hedge funds are actively adjusting their positions in MSCI, with Vanguard Group increasing its holdings by 5.9% and GAMMA Investing boosting its stake by over 61,000% in the first quarter.
• MSCI reported a quarterly EPS of $4.17, surpassing analysts’ expectations and showing a year-over-year revenue increase of 9.1%, while declaring a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share.

Hhlr Advisors LTD. cut its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 41.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,128 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,522 shares during the period. Hhlr Advisors LTD.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,203,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 61,179.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $285,892,000 after purchasing an additional 504,732 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in MSCI by 3,881.3% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $251,662,000 after purchasing an additional 408,894 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its position in MSCI by 605,802.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 212,066 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $129,903,000 after purchasing an additional 212,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at about $117,879,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $3.26 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $550.65. 898,650 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 545,931. The company's 50 day moving average price is $565.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $559.76. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $42.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.47, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.34.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.64 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. MSCI's payout ratio is presently 47.68%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $548.69 per share, for a total transaction of $46,089.96. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $702,296,314.19. This trade represents a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.73.

MSCI Company 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.