Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Boosts Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 14.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 2.03% of MSCI worth $925,531,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $582.00 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $585.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $540.42. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $631.70. The company has a market capitalization of $45.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target for the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.83.

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.