Inspire Investing LLC Sells 138 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Inspire Investing LLC reduced its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,457 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 138 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,301,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,302,610,000 after purchasing an additional 518,833 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 13,918 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 19,846 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 11.9% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 890,123 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $513,370,000 after acquiring an additional 94,466 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 804,640 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $455,024,000 after acquiring an additional 20,150 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $548.69 per share, for a total transaction of $46,089.96. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,296,314.19. This represents a 0.01% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders acquired a total of 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.70.

MSCI Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $546.69 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $564.01 and its 200-day moving average is $559.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.20, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $763.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.64 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given 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 of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.68%.

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.