Freedom Investment Management Inc. Sells 256 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 6.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,609 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 256 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 74.9% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $701,522,000 after acquiring an additional 623,712 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 412,389 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 16.9% during the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after buying an additional 318,214 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 14.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $925,531,000 after buying an additional 198,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $91,748,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $601.96 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $631.70. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $587.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $544.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.52, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.45 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target for the company. Barclays increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.83.

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.