Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. Acquires New Shares in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. bought a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,177 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,012,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of MSCI by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 239,933 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $134,475,000 after acquiring an additional 21,310 shares during the period. Evoke Wealth LLC increased its position in MSCI by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 13,720 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,761,000 after buying an additional 2,135 shares in the last quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter worth about $959,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $904,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 819,422 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $463,506,000 after acquiring an additional 57,342 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $561.66. The stock had a trading volume of 365,234 shares, compared to its average volume of 580,741. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $509.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $523.55. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.26 EPS. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.78 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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. Argus increased their target price on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group boosted their price target on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $584.79.

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.