Thematics Asset Management Decreases Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Thematics Asset Management lowered its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,201 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,322 shares during the period. Thematics Asset Management’s holdings in MSCI were worth $8,861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Edgewood Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.9% during the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after buying an additional 318,214 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 14.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after purchasing an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $870,627,000 after purchasing an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,047,960 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $504,855,000 after buying an additional 13,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in MSCI by 129.4% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $352,153,000 after acquiring an additional 412,389 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSCI. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group cut their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.83.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock traded up $4.74 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $597.47. The stock had a trading volume of 30,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 542,102. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $586.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $543.26. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $631.70. The stock has a market cap of $46.82 billion, a PE ratio of 38.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 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.