Mather Group LLC. Trims Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Mather Group LLC. lowered its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 697 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 66 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 348.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 341 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 545 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 7,031 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,608,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 9.4% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 1,400 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $718,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 39.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 61,930 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,775,000 after acquiring an additional 17,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $469.74 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $37.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.06, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a fifty day moving average of $536.34 and a 200-day moving average of $536.91.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit acquired 7,500 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other MSCI news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. Bank of America upgraded MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $569.53.

MSCI 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.