MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Stake Lessened by Cornerstone Advisors LLC

Cornerstone Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 19.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,900 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 15.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 254,415 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $122,577,000 after acquiring an additional 34,351 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at $7,766,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.3% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 1.4% in the second quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC now owns 3,583 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,726,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 32.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 241,960 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $116,564,000 after buying an additional 58,612 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised MSCI to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays upped their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.00.

MSCI Trading Up 0.8 %

MSCI stock opened at $566.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $44.89 billion, a PE ratio of 38.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $544.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $521.55. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. The business 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%. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

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.