Peak Financial Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Peak Financial Advisors LLC reduced its stake in MSCI Inc by 18.1%, holding 4,281 shares, which represents 1.3% of its investment portfolio.
• MSCI recently reported $4.17 earnings per share, beating analysts' estimates, with a revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, reflecting a 9.1% year-over-year increase.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, translating to an annualized payout of $7.20 and a yield of 1.2%.

Peak Financial Advisors LLC decreased its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,281 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 949 shares during the period. MSCI accounts for 1.3% of Peak Financial Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Peak Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $2,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 136.4% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 355.6% during the 1st quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 82 shares of the technology company's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Trading Down 0.5%

MSCI stock opened at $582.77 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $563.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $559.30.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 9,916 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $544.70 per share, with a total value of $5,401,245.20. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $697,143,554.90. This trade represents a 0.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, 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 note on Friday, July 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $652.45.

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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