MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Sold by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG

Key Points

• B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG reduced its stake in MSCI Inc by 20.1%, bringing its holdings to 18,637 shares valued at $10.5 million after selling 4,684 shares.
• MSCI reported a Q2 EPS of $4.17, exceeding estimates of $4.12, with revenues rising 9.1% year-over-year, totaling $772.68 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.80, resulting in an annualized dividend of $7.20 and a yield of 1.3%.

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG cut its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 20.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,637 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 4,684 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG's holdings in MSCI were worth $10,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in MSCI by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,302,610,000 after acquiring an additional 518,833 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 61,179.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company's stock worth $285,892,000 after acquiring an additional 504,732 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in MSCI by 3,881.3% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company's stock worth $251,662,000 after acquiring an additional 408,894 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its position in MSCI by 605,802.9% during the first quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 212,066 shares of the technology company's stock worth $129,903,000 after acquiring an additional 212,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in MSCI during the first quarter worth about $117,879,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $571.73 on Wednesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $564.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $560.16. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $486.73 and a one year high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $44.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.64 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.68%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 9,916 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $544.70 per share, for a total transaction of $5,401,245.20. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,867 shares in the company, valued at $697,143,554.90. The trade was a 0.78% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. 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 report on Monday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a 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 report on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $654.73.

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.

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