Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 22,614 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Hsbc Holdings PLC cut its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 231,916 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 22,614 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned approximately 0.29% of MSCI worth $111,979,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 98 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of MSCI to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $591.00.

MSCI Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI traded up $3.74 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $555.31. The company had a trading volume of 447,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 559,188. The stock has a market cap of $43.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. The company's 50 day moving average price is $547.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $521.93. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.26 EPS. Research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

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.