MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 588 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in MSCI Inc by 2.6%, holding 22,056 shares after selling 588 shares during the first quarter.
• Several hedge funds, including Ritholtz Wealth Management and Golden State Wealth Management LLC, have increased their positions in MSCI significantly during the same period.
• MSCI announced a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share with a yield of 1.3%, which will be distributed to shareholders on August 29th.

MetLife Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,056 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 588 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $12,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in MSCI by 23.2% during the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 812 shares of the technology company's stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 336.4% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 96 shares of the technology company's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 6.5% during the first quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 524 shares of the technology company's stock worth $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 about $556,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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. Raymond James Financial raised shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $654.73.

MSCI Stock Down 0.0%

MSCI opened at $574.5680 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.29. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $563.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $560.08.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $763.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.64 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

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.

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