Inspire Investing LLC Sells 138 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Inspire Investing LLC lessened its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,457 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 138 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,301,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in MSCI by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 142 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Optivise Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 540 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 361 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $204,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Gries Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $868,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Copperwynd Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 1,793 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,034,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 2.1%

NYSE:MSCI opened at $546.69 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $564.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $559.29. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $42.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.20, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $763.06 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%.The company’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 47.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday. Seaport Res Ptn raised MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.70.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 9,916 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $544.70 per share, for a total transaction of $5,401,245.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $697,143,554.90. This trade represents a 0.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.