Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Reduces Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. cut its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 32.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,734 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,302 shares during the period. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,573,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 5.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 518,833 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993,524 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,146,298,000 after purchasing an additional 34,335 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in MSCI by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,008,778 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $570,464,000 after purchasing an additional 19,846 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in MSCI by 2.2% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 969,850 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $559,351,000 after purchasing an additional 20,682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $513,370,000 after acquiring an additional 94,466 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSCI. Barclays boosted their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $655.90.

MSCI Stock Down 1.5%

NYSE MSCI opened at $564.71 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $42.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $564.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $563.24. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $642.45.

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

MSCI announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, October 28th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.63%.

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.