Mather Group LLC. Has $357,000 Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 7.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 741 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $357,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,719,381 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,886,777,000 after acquiring an additional 36,043 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in MSCI by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,734,519 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $972,111,000 after purchasing an additional 9,304 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP boosted its stake in MSCI by 1.8% in the first quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 1,323,058 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $741,508,000 after purchasing an additional 23,217 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,038,761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $587,575,000 after purchasing an additional 44,234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $496,541,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock traded up $9.25 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $535.36. 78,533 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 582,517. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $617.39. The company has a market cap of $42.41 billion, a PE ratio of 35.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $501.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $523.86.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The business had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.26 EPS. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.21.

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.