Prana Capital Management LP Takes Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Prana Capital Management LP acquired a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,058 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,366,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in MSCI by 172.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 9,083 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,091,000 after purchasing an additional 5,754 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its position in MSCI by 207.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 2,956 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,657,000 after purchasing an additional 1,996 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in MSCI by 26.8% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 279 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 741 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in MSCI by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,279 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $616,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. 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 report on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.83.

MSCI Trading Down 0.1 %

MSCI stock opened at $608.06 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $592.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $548.09. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $631.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.65 billion, a PE ratio of 39.93, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.10.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

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.