MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Sold by Voya Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Voya Investment Management LLC has reduced its stake in MSCI Inc by 4.3%, holding approximately 193,261 shares valued at $109.15 million as of its latest SEC filing.
• Analysts recently set new price targets for MSCI, with Wells Fargo lowering their target to $533 and UBS Group raising it to $700, reflecting a mixed outlook among financial experts.
• Insider trading activity includes CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquiring 84 shares for about $46,090, bringing his total holdings to over 1.27 million shares valued at approximately $702 million.

Voya Investment Management LLC cut its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 4.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 193,261 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 8,662 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.25% of MSCI worth $109,145,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 136.4% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 355.6% in the 1st quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 82 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $652.45.

MSCI Stock Down 4.8%

NYSE MSCI traded down $27.86 on Thursday, hitting $550.78. 679,472 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 610,808. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $486.73 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $42.61 billion, a PE ratio of 36.48, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $563.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $559.25.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company 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 business posted $3.64 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $548.69 per share, for a total transaction of $46,089.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares in the company, 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 accessible through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.