The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 3,572 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its stake in MSCI Inc by 7.2%, owning 45,950 shares valued at approximately $25.99 million after selling 3,572 shares.
• MSCI reported quarterly earnings of $4.17 per share, beating estimates by $0.05, and revenue of $772.68 million, surpassing analyst expectations.
• Several investment firms, including Vanguard, GAMMA Investing, and Bank Julius Baer, made significant increases to their positions in MSCI during the first quarter, highlighting growing institutional interest.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 7.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 45,950 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 3,572 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.06% of MSCI worth $25,985,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,302,610,000 after purchasing an additional 518,833 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 0.9% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,626,923 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $920,026,000 after buying an additional 13,918 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 2.0% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,008,778 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $570,464,000 after acquiring an additional 19,846 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in MSCI by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 804,640 shares of the technology company's stock worth $455,024,000 after acquiring an additional 20,150 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 615,770 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $348,218,000 after acquiring an additional 47,936 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 84 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the completion of 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 represents a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders bought 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial upgraded MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $654.73.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI traded down $1.76 during trading on Friday, reaching $555.43. The company had a trading volume of 626,839 shares, compared to its average volume of 603,737. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The business's fifty day moving average price is $565.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $559.64. The company has a market cap of $42.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.78, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.34.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

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