MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd

Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd decreased its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 55.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,753 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 14,461 shares during the period. Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd's holdings in MSCI were worth $5,662,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,719,381 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,886,777,000 after acquiring an additional 36,043 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.5% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,734,519 shares of the technology company's stock worth $972,111,000 after purchasing an additional 9,304 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in MSCI by 74.9% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $701,522,000 after buying an additional 623,712 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP raised its stake in MSCI by 1.8% in the first quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 1,323,058 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $741,508,000 after buying an additional 23,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,047,960 shares of the technology company's stock worth $504,855,000 after buying an additional 13,620 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of MSCI to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $591.00.

MSCI Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of MSCI traded up $8.75 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $560.16. The company had a trading volume of 294,070 shares, compared to its average volume of 559,126. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $550.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $521.56. The company has a market capitalization of $44.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.24, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. MSCI's payout ratio is 43.69%.

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.