Versor Investments LP Reduces Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Versor Investments LP significantly reduced its holdings in MSCI Inc by 81.4% in Q1, leaving them with only 480 shares valued at approximately $271,000.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard and JPMorgan Chase, raised their stakes in MSCI, reflecting strong interest in the company despite Versor's reduction.
• MSCI Inc recently reported earnings of $4.17 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, highlighting a solid financial performance.

Versor Investments LP reduced its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 81.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 480 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 2,098 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP's holdings in MSCI were worth $271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in MSCI by 5.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,302,610,000 after buying an additional 518,833 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $920,026,000 after buying an additional 13,918 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised 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 worth $570,464,000 after buying an additional 19,846 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in MSCI by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 784,490 shares of the technology company's stock worth $470,702,000 after buying an additional 48,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in MSCI by 8.4% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 615,770 shares of the technology company's stock worth $348,218,000 after buying an additional 47,936 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial raised 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. UBS Group increased 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. Finally, 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. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $654.73.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $567.4980 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $486.73 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $562.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $560.52. The company has a market capitalization of $43.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $763.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.64 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was bought at an average price 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. The trade was a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have purchased a total of 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 over the last ninety days. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company 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.

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