Forsta AP Fonden Sells 1,400 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Forsta AP Fonden trimmed its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 5.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,800 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,400 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in MSCI were worth $10,984,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in MSCI by 9.7% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 239,933 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $134,475,000 after purchasing an additional 21,310 shares in the last quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC increased its position in MSCI by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 13,720 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,761,000 after buying an additional 2,135 shares in the last quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth approximately $959,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth approximately $904,000. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,755,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised MSCI to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $584.79.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $559.93 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39. The company has a market capitalization of $44.36 billion, a PE ratio of 38.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $541.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $522.13.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

MSCI Company 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.