Hantz Financial Services Inc. Buys 14,493 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 57.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,510 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,493 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of MSCI worth $23,032,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after acquiring an additional 318,214 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in MSCI by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after acquiring an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after acquiring an additional 37,340 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 13,620 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 129.4% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,153,000 after acquiring an additional 412,389 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.5 %

MSCI opened at $604.96 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $589.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $544.93. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $631.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.72, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.11.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.83.

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.