Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Sells 499 Shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lowered its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 13.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,201 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 499 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 293.8% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 122.6% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $580.78 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.32. The business’s 50-day moving average is $566.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $568.33. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $486.74 and a 1 year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 145.52% and a net margin of 39.08%. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. On average, analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 49.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 289,787 shares in the company, valued at $160,133,398.33. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSCI. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $651.55.

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.