MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Bought by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 58,803 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,764 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.08% of MSCI worth $33,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 16.0% during the second quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in 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 acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. 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 acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,599,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 268 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $155,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 10,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $536.13 per share, for a total transaction of $5,473,887.30. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,487,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $797,250,508.11. This represents a 0.69% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total transaction of $348,454.08. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 15,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,904,006.90. This trade represents a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $651.56.

MSCI Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $553.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $557.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $561.86. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $634.99. The company has a market capitalization of $41.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09 and a beta of 1.32.

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

MSCI announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, October 28th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.63%.

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.