Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Cuts Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its MSCI stake by 73.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 18,954 shares and leaving it with 6,758 shares worth about $3.88 million.
• MSCI reported stronger-than-expected Q1 results, with EPS of $4.55 versus estimates of $4.38 and revenue of $850.8 million, up 14.1% year over year.
• Analysts remain bullish on MSCI, with multiple firms raising price targets and the stock carrying a consensus Buy rating and average target of $692.70.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans trimmed its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 73.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,758 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 18,954 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans' holdings in MSCI were worth $3,877,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,674,093 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,489,177,000 after buying an additional 165,851 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,320,761 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,884,233,000 after buying an additional 39,450 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,394,117 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,358,446,000 after buying an additional 223,784 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,777,749 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,008,745,000 after buying an additional 109,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,069,180 shares of the technology company's stock worth $606,674,000 after buying an additional 282,859 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total value of $5,920,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 23,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,941,357.92. The trade was a 29.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $252,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 22,544 shares in the company, valued at $12,624,640. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $719.00 to $727.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $715.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $730.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $692.70.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $588.97 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $501.08 and a 52-week high of $626.28. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $564.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $566.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.17. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 40.74%.The business had revenue of $850.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $830.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.00 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 46.83%.

MSCI Profile

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.

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