Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. Sells 39,747 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. has reduced its holdings in MSCI Inc by 6.7%, making it the fifth largest position in its portfolio with a total of 549,753 shares valued at approximately $310.88 million.
• Several institutional investors have recently altered their stakes in MSCI, with 89.97% of the stock now owned by hedge funds and institutional investors.
• CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought additional MSCI shares worth $46,089.96, increasing his ownership to approximately $702.30 million, while the company's stock has a consensus price target of $654.73 from analysts.

Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 6.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 549,753 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 39,747 shares during the quarter. MSCI comprises about 11.6% of Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. owned about 0.71% of MSCI worth $310,885,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 142 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Optivise Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.8% in the first quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 540 shares of the technology company's stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 5.9% during the first quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 361 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $204,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 16.8% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Salvus Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 824 shares of the technology company's stock worth $466,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on 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 upgraded MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $654.73.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 9,916 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $544.70 per share, for a total transaction of $5,401,245.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at $697,143,554.90. This represents a 0.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders bought 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of MSCI traded down $3.26 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $550.65. 898,650 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 545,931. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $565.32 and a 200-day moving average of $559.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.60 billion, a PE ratio of 36.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.34.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

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.