MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by PGGM Investments

PGGM Investments trimmed its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 6.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,640 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 485 shares during the quarter. PGGM Investments’ holdings in MSCI were worth $3,199,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,719,381 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,886,777,000 after purchasing an additional 36,043 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in MSCI by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,734,519 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $972,111,000 after buying an additional 9,304 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP grew its holdings in MSCI by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 1,323,058 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $741,508,000 after buying an additional 23,217 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,038,761 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $587,575,000 after acquiring an additional 44,234 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at $496,541,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSCI. Bank of America raised MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $613.00 to $569.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $584.79.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI traded up $6.77 on Thursday, hitting $561.10. 237,042 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 578,265. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $617.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $506.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $523.20.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The business had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.41 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.78 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

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.