MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 285,075 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 16,318 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.36% of MSCI worth $133,776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. AGF Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 17,422 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,176,000 after acquiring an additional 1,388 shares during the period. Cumberland Partners Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 4,364 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,048,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 33,427 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,687,000 after acquiring an additional 2,210 shares during the period. Roundview Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $518,000. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 13,963 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,553,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the period. 88.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of MSCI from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $650.00 to $554.00 in a report on Thursday, September 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $610.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 18th. Argus assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $580.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $510.00 to $582.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $577.00 to $533.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $563.86.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $522.21 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $450.00 and a 1 year high of $572.50. The company has a market cap of $41.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $508.57 and a 200-day moving average of $503.76.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 31st. The technology company reported $3.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.13. MSCI had a net margin of 39.76% and a negative return on equity of 97.86%. The company had revenue of $625.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $625.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 13.19 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.38 per share. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 8th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.00%.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides investment decision support tools for the clients to manage their investment processes worldwide. It operates through four segments: Index, Analytics, ESG and Climate, and All Other Private Assets. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed product creation, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.