EP Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 512 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $247,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $65,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $598.07.

MSCI Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $589.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.25, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $560.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $523.38. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.41 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.26 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio 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.