Farther Finance Advisors LLC Has $318,000 Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Farther Finance Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 20.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 552 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 143 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 buying an additional 518,833 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 515,713 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew 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 worth $129,903,000 after buying an additional 212,031 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in MSCI during the first quarter worth about $119,408,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the first quarter worth about $117,879,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 9,916 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $544.70 per share, with a total value of $5,401,245.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $697,143,554.90. The trade was a 0.78% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have purchased 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 over the last quarter. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of MSCI opened at $568.48 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $561.83 and its 200-day moving average is $559.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.98 billion, a PE ratio of 37.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.34.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its 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. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The company had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $763.06 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MSCI. Raymond James Financial upgraded 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $652.45.

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.