Ycg LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Key Points

• Ycg LLC reduced its stake in MSCI Inc by 0.5% during the first quarter, owning 106,561 shares after selling 556 shares.
• MSCI recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $7.20 and a yield of 1.3%.
• The company's stock reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' estimates of $4.12, with a revenue increase of 9.1% year-over-year.

YCG LLC reduced its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,561 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 556 shares during the period. MSCI accounts for about 4.7% of YCG LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. YCG LLC owned about 0.14% of MSCI worth $60,260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 142 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its position in MSCI by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 540 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in MSCI by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 361 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $204,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its position in MSCI by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Salvus Wealth Management LLC increased its position in MSCI by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 824 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $466,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. 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 report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of 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. increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $654.73.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 9,916 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $544.70 per share, for a total transaction of $5,401,245.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at $697,143,554.90. This represents a 0.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have bought 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 in the last ninety days. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE:MSCI traded down $0.95 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $566.48. The company had a trading volume of 362,921 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,038,627. The firm has a market cap of $43.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.29. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $562.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $561.70. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $763.06 million. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The business's revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.