12,361 Shares in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Purchased by Heron Bay Capital Management

Heron Bay Capital Management acquired a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 12,361 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,955,000. MSCI accounts for approximately 1.3% of Heron Bay Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 672 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,838 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,171,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of MSCI by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 99,954 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $56,539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,847 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 7,054 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,990,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $372,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSCI. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group increased their price objective 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.00.

MSCI Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $551.41 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $548.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $521.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.64, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.26 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

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.