Candriam S.C.A. Has $3.46 Million Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Candriam S.C.A. significantly cut its stake in MSCI Inc, reducing holdings by 74.1%, with a value of approximately $3.46 million.
• CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased nearly 10,000 shares of MSCI stock for over $5.4 million, boosting his position by 0.78%.
• Analysts have mixed target price forecasts for MSCI, with estimates ranging from $533 to $700, while the current average rating is a "Moderate Buy."

Candriam S.C.A. lessened its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 74.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,112 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 17,491 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 136.4% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 50.0% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 293.8% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.73.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI traded down $2.00 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $571.73. 425,102 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 603,188. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $44.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.86, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $563.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $560.08.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 EPS 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 business had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.64 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 9,916 shares of the 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 completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $697,143,554.90. This represents a 0.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have acquired 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 in the last three months. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.