Ieq Capital LLC Acquires 327 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Ieq Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,170 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 327 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of MSCI to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.00.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $551.41 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $617.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $548.98 and a 200 day moving average of $521.68. The company 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 (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

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.