Rathbones Group PLC Sells 16,243 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Rathbones Group PLC decreased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 27.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 41,912 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 16,243 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $24,172,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,302,610,000 after buying an additional 518,833 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 355.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 660,690 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $365,976,000 after acquiring an additional 515,713 shares during the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter worth approximately $175,912,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in MSCI by 605,802.9% during the first quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 212,066 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $129,903,000 after purchasing an additional 212,031 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI during the first quarter valued at approximately $119,408,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $582.50 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $562.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $561.89. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $43.77 billion, a PE ratio of 36.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.34.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.87 million. MSCI had a net margin of 40.03% and a negative return on equity of 110.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.86 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.63%.

MSCI announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI increased their price target on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $655.90.

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.