Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 18,954 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 73.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,758 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 18,954 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in MSCI were worth $3,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 6.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,777,749 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,008,745,000 after purchasing an additional 109,287 shares during the last quarter. Katamaran Capital LLP increased its position in shares of MSCI by 57.1% in the third quarter. Katamaran Capital LLP now owns 4,919 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,791,000 after purchasing an additional 1,788 shares during the last quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 103.6% in the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 14,958 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,490,000 after purchasing an additional 7,613 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 37.7% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 12,228 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,938,000 after purchasing an additional 3,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 10.5% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,996 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $20,992,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $545.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $692.70.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total value of $5,920,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 23,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,941,357.92. This represents a 29.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $252,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,624,640. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $588.97 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $42.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $564.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $566.08. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $501.08 and a 1 year high of $626.28.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $850.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $830.91 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 40.74%.MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.00 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.83%.

MSCI Profile

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.