Sei Investments Co. Sells 5,598 Shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Key Points

• Sei Investments Co. reduced its stake in MSCI Inc by 3.1% in the first quarter, selling 5,598 shares and now holds approximately $103.3 million in the company.
• CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares at an average price of $548.69 each, increasing his ownership in MSCI to about $702.3 million.
• MSCI's latest earnings report showed $4.17 earnings per share, exceeding expectations, with total revenue of $772.68 million, up 9.1% year-over-year.

Sei Investments Co. lessened its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 3.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 173,447 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 5,598 shares during the period. MSCI comprises about 1.0% of Sei Investments Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Sei Investments Co. owned about 0.22% of MSCI worth $103,325,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 136.4% in the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 293.8% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its position in MSCI by 50.0% in the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 84 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the acquisition, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial upgraded MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $654.73.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $567.29 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $43.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.29. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $486.73 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $562.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $562.09.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%. The business had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.64 EPS. MSCI's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

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