MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Purchased by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 484,011 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,007 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $282,145,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in MSCI by 68.3% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 79,703 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,670,000 after purchasing an additional 32,336 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 5.4% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 15,959 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,943,000 after purchasing an additional 813 shares during the period. BOKF NA increased its stake in MSCI by 1.2% during the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 4,329 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,402,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in MSCI by 18.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 581,558 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $325,936,000 after purchasing an additional 92,118 shares during the period. Finally, London & Capital Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in MSCI by 7.9% during the first quarter. London & Capital Asset Management Ltd now owns 28,744 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,110,000 after purchasing an additional 2,106 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $589.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $46.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $631.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $586.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $541.49.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Argus upped 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. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.