Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 47,697 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans decreased its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 47.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 53,275 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 47,697 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.07% of MSCI worth $25,665,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of MSCI by 9.7% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 239,933 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $134,475,000 after purchasing an additional 21,310 shares during the period. Evoke Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 13,720 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,761,000 after purchasing an additional 2,135 shares during the period. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $959,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $904,000. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,755,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $560.16 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $44.38 billion, a PE ratio of 38.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $617.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $550.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $521.56.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of MSCI to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays boosted 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.00.

About MSCI

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.