Eventide Asset Management LLC Sells 2,274 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Eventide Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,001 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,274 shares during the quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $18,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 74.9% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $701,522,000 after purchasing an additional 623,712 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 129.4% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,153,000 after purchasing an additional 412,389 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after purchasing an additional 318,214 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in MSCI by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after purchasing an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at $91,748,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $604.96 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $589.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $544.93. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $631.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.41 billion, a PE ratio of 39.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly 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 negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.45 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.06%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.83.

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.