Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 383 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in MSCI by 74.9% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $701,522,000 after purchasing an additional 623,712 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 412,389 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter worth about $91,748,000. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in MSCI during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $75,957,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 358.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $77,900,000 after acquiring an additional 104,474 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $594.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $46.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.00, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $631.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $580.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $532.62.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective for the company. 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.83.

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.