Vident Advisory LLC Lowers Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Vident Advisory LLC has reduced its stake in MSCI Inc by 5.7%, selling 441 shares and now holding 7,253 shares valued at approximately $4.1 million.
• Insider activity shows that CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares at an average price of $548.69, increasing his total ownership to nearly $702.3 million in value.
• Analyst ratings for MSCI are generally positive, with ten analysts giving a Buy rating and a consensus target price of $654.73, while recent price targets vary from $533 to $700.

Vident Advisory LLC lowered its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 5.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,253 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 441 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $4,102,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 142 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Optivise Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 540 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 361 shares of the technology company's stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 16.8% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Salvus Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 2.6% during the first quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 824 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $466,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Down 0.6%

MSCI traded down $3.26 on Wednesday, hitting $550.65. The company had a trading volume of 898,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 603,678. The company has a market cap of $42.60 billion, a PE ratio of 36.47, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.34. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $486.73 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $565.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $559.82.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%.The firm's revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.64 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.73.

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.