Victory Capital Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,679 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,300 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.07% of MSCI worth $30,708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 74.9% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $701,522,000 after buying an additional 623,712 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 129.4% in the second 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 during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth $91,748,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in MSCI during the first quarter valued at $75,957,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 358.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,900,000 after purchasing an additional 104,474 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.83.

MSCI Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $593.86 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $631.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.54 billion, a PE ratio of 38.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $583.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $537.35.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced 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 business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

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.