MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Sold by MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.

Key Points

• MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. reduced its stake in MSCI Inc by 16.2%, now holding 8,645 shares valued at approximately $4.89 million.
• Analysts show a positive outlook on MSCI, with the average target price set at $652.45 and several upgrades from firms like Raymond James and JPMorgan Chase.
• MSCI reported strong earnings with $4.17 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding expectations and demonstrating a 9.1% year-over-year revenue increase.

MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 16.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,645 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,677 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,888,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 buying an additional 518,833 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 355.7% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 660,690 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $365,976,000 after acquiring an additional 515,713 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 61,179.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $285,892,000 after acquiring an additional 504,732 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in MSCI by 3,881.3% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $251,662,000 after acquiring an additional 408,894 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its holdings in MSCI by 605,802.9% in the first quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 212,066 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $129,903,000 after acquiring an additional 212,031 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 9,916 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $544.70 per share, with a total value of $5,401,245.20. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at $697,143,554.90. This trade represents a 0.78% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock traded up $12.36 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $579.38. The stock had a trading volume of 143,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 606,615. The company's 50 day moving average price is $563.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $559.11. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $44.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.34.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. MSCI's payout ratio is presently 47.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on 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 objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $652.45.

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.