MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Eagle Asset Management Inc.

Eagle Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 33.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 179,325 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 90,976 shares during the quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $106,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 30.0% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth $91,748,000. Grove Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 52.4% in the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,779 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299 shares during the period. LBP AM SA acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the first quarter worth $778,000. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 207.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 2,956 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,657,000 after acquiring an additional 1,996 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective on the stock. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Argus raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research 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 research report on Friday, October 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.83.

MSCI Trading Down 0.1 %

MSCI stock opened at $581.34 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $631.70. The stock has a market cap of $45.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.17, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $585.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $540.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

About MSCI

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.