AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 1,570 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

AQR Capital Management LLC cut its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 659,120 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,570 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $380,141,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $547,348,000. Magellan Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter worth $175,912,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI during the first quarter valued at $119,408,000. Gobi Capital LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the first quarter valued at $115,088,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in MSCI by 27.7% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 786,321 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $453,513,000 after purchasing an additional 170,551 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction of $247,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,639 shares in the company, valued at $11,901,450. This trade represents a 2.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total transaction of $348,454.08. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 15,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,904,006.90. This trade represents a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Seaport Res Ptn raised MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $651.56.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $550.39 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $558.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $561.99. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $486.73 and a 52-week high of $636.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.88 and a beta of 1.32.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.10. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 110.94% and a net margin of 40.03%.The business had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $794.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.63%.

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.