LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Sells 766 Shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Key Points

• LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. reduced its stake in MSCI Inc by 16.0%, selling 766 shares and holding 4,019 shares worth approximately $2.27 million.
• MSCI recently reported earnings of $4.17 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, which offers an annualized yield of 1.3%, with the payout scheduled for August 29th.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. lowered its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 16.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,019 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 766 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in shares of MSCI by 23.2% in the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 812 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $459,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 336.4% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 96 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 6.5% in the first quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 524 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $556,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Raymond James Financial raised 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.73.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock traded down $0.95 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $566.48. The company had a trading volume of 362,921 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,038,627. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $486.73 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $43.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $562.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $561.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $763.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.64 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be 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 is Friday, August 15th. MSCI's payout ratio is presently 47.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 84 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $548.69 per share, for a total transaction of $46,089.96. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,951 shares in the company, valued at $702,296,314.19. The trade was a 0.01% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

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.