BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Increases Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 906.0% 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 67,268 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 60,581 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. owned approximately 0.09% of MSCI worth $39,213,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in MSCI during the second quarter worth $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the first quarter worth $34,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the second quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at $40,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. 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 note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group cut their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.83.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $581.34 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $45.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.17, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $585.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $540.70. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $631.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (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 quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 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.