Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Sells 2,023 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Pallas Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in MSCI Inc by 37.3%, selling 2,023 shares during the second quarter, leaving them with a total of 3,401 shares valued at approximately $1.96 million.
• CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of MSCI, increasing his ownership to about 1.28 million shares, valued at over $702 million, highlighting insider confidence in the company.
• MSCI reported earnings of $4.17 per share for the latest quarter, exceeding expectations, and posted a year-over-year revenue growth of 9.1%, indicating strong financial performance.

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 37.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,401 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 2,023 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $1,962,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew 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 valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew 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 valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. 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 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 report on Wednesday, September 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $652.45.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 84 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $4.05 on Friday, hitting $560.03. 1,237,050 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 620,152. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $562.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $559.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.33 billion, a PE ratio of 37.09, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.34. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $486.73 and a 1 year high of $642.45.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.68%.

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.