Cornerstone Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Cornerstone Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 19.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,900 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $2,361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 672 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,838 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,171,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 575 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $496,541,000. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 91.4% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,278 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,288,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $10.28 on Tuesday, hitting $556.38. 474,831 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 560,317. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $545.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $521.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.08 billion, a PE ratio of 37.98, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $696.41 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The company's revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.26 EPS. On average, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Argus raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $591.00.

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.