Stevens Capital Management LP Cuts Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Stevens Capital Management LP lessened its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 23.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,433 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 444 shares during the quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings in MSCI were worth $811,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 105.1% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 80 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 6.7% during the third quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 4.5% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 669 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its position in MSCI by 45.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 13,823 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,092,000 after buying an additional 4,346 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $464.49. 1,469,006 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 541,101. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $617.39. The company has a market cap of $36.80 billion, a PE ratio of 31.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $545.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $538.56.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 111.33% and a net margin of 44.55%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.14 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $562.87.

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.