Petrus Trust Company LTA Trims Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Petrus Trust Company LTA lessened its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 43,288 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 92 shares during the period. MSCI comprises approximately 2.5% of Petrus Trust Company LTA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Petrus Trust Company LTA owned 0.06% of MSCI worth $25,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter worth about $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.83.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $608.06 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $592.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $548.09. The company has a market cap of $47.65 billion, a PE ratio of 39.93, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.10. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $631.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued 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 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 prior year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

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.