Edgestream Partners L.P. Sells 4,726 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Edgestream Partners L.P. lessened its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 84.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 888 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 4,726 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $428,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $343,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 15.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 254,415 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $122,577,000 after purchasing an additional 34,351 shares in the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth about $7,766,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its position in shares of MSCI by 2.3% in the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,283 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,063,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, Garrison Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC now owns 3,583 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,726,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $551.41 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.68 billion, a PE ratio of 37.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $617.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $548.98 and a 200 day moving average of $521.49.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The company’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.26 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSCI. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Argus upped their price target on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.00.

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.