Portside Wealth Group LLC Boosts Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 55.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,699 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,761 shares during the period. MSCI accounts for approximately 0.8% of Portside Wealth Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,488,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 1,968 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Conning Inc. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 479 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 542 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 423 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its holdings in MSCI by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 618 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $575.66 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $580.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $531.77. The company has a market capitalization of $45.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $631.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.95 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Argus increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.83.

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.