Stephens Inc. AR Has $1.93 Million Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 43.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,303 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,001 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,925,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 2.8% in the third quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,020 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,760,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. lifted its stake in MSCI by 57.6% in the third quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 3,309 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,926,000 after acquiring an additional 1,209 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 44.0% in the third quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,166 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,292,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its stake in MSCI by 21.3% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 1,308 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $740,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its stake in MSCI by 48.3% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,275 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,326,000 after acquiring an additional 741 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. 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. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.83.

MSCI Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $577.95 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $580.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $530.33. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $631.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.45 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

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.