MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lessened its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 27.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 58,158 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 21,545 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 0.07% of MSCI worth $28,018,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the first quarter valued at $34,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded MSCI to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.00.

MSCI Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $551.41 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.68 billion, a price-to-earnings 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $548.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $521.49.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

MSCI 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.