MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Sold by Inspire Investing LLC

Key Points

• Inspire Investing LLC has reduced its stake in MSCI Inc by 15.5%, owning a total of 7,595 shares worth approximately $4.3 million after selling 1,389 shares.
• CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 9,916 shares at an average price of $544.70, bringing his total holdings to nearly $697 million.
• MSCI's recent quarterly earnings report revealed an EPS of $4.17, exceeding expectations and showing a 9.1% year-over-year revenue increase to $772.68 million.

Inspire Investing LLC reduced its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 15.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,595 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,389 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $4,295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,302,610,000 after purchasing an additional 518,833 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 355.7% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 660,690 shares of the technology company's stock worth $365,976,000 after purchasing an additional 515,713 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 61,179.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company's stock worth $285,892,000 after purchasing an additional 504,732 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 3,881.3% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company's stock worth $251,662,000 after purchasing an additional 408,894 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 605,802.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 212,066 shares of the technology company's stock worth $129,903,000 after purchasing an additional 212,031 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSCI. 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 research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial raised shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. 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 currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $652.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 9,916 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have purchased a total of 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $584.45 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $486.73 and a one year high of $642.45. The company's 50 day moving average price is $563.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $559.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.71, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.34.

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, 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.64 earnings per share. MSCI's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

About MSCI

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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