MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Stock Position Boosted by EULAV Asset Management

EULAV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 8.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 188,457 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 14,754 shares during the period. MSCI makes up 2.7% of EULAV Asset Management’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. EULAV Asset Management’s holdings in MSCI were worth $109,857,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in MSCI during the second quarter valued at $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the first quarter worth about $34,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $596.93 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $585.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $540.12. The company has a market capitalization of $46.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $631.70.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.83.

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.