Raymond James & Associates Grows Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 5.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 127,021 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 6,564 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in MSCI were worth $74,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,719,381 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,886,777,000 after buying an additional 36,043 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in MSCI by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,734,519 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $972,111,000 after acquiring an additional 9,304 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in MSCI by 74.9% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $701,522,000 after acquiring an additional 623,712 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lifted its stake in MSCI by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 1,323,058 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $741,508,000 after purchasing an additional 23,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,047,960 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $504,855,000 after purchasing an additional 13,620 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Down 0.6 %

MSCI opened at $604.22 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $617.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $575.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $526.86. The firm has a market cap of $47.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price 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. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $615.23.

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.