Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC Raises Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 509 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 5,600.0% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 105.1% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 80 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $620.00 to $470.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $562.87.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI traded down $2.11 during trading on Thursday, hitting $462.54. 627,989 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 529,994. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.73, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $545.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $538.56.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 111.33%. The company’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.14 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.81 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.69%.

MSCI 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.