Trillium Asset Management LLC Cuts Position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Key Points

• Trillium Asset Management LLC significantly reduced its holdings in MSCI Inc by 77.1% in the first quarter, now owning 4,523 shares valued at approximately $2.56 million.
• MSCI Inc reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $4.17, exceeding expectations, and generated $772.68 million in revenue, a 9.1% increase year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.80, with an annualized yield of 1.3%, reflecting a dividend payout ratio of 47.68%.

Trillium Asset Management LLC lowered its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 77.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,523 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 15,186 shares during the quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $2,558,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew 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 worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Raymond James Financial upgraded MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group lifted their target price 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. lifted their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $654.73.

MSCI Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded down $0.95 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $566.48. 362,921 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,038,627. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $486.73 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $562.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $561.70. The stock has a market cap of $43.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.52, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%. The company had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $763.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.64 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI's payout ratio is 47.68%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $702,296,314.19. The trade was a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.