Quest Partners LLC Increases Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4,032.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,595 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,508 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,096,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. TIAA Trust National Association purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the first quarter valued at about $212,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in MSCI by 388.9% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 176 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in MSCI by 6.3% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 14,721 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,250,000 after buying an additional 870 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 52.9% in the first quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 1,159 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $650,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 0.5% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 7,086 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,971,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $593.12 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $584.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $539.21. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $631.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.94, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.