Perpetual Ltd Sells 725 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Perpetual Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 28.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,856 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 725 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,082,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Conning Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 479 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.8% in the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 542 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 5.0% in the second quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 423 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.5% in the second quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 618 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 7.1% in the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 316 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $152,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $605.78 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $564.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $524.39. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $47.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The firm had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $614.14.

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.