Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Makes New Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 355 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $58,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Barclays raised their target price 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. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group decreased their target price 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. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.83.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $589.57 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $631.70. The stock has a market cap of $46.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $586.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $541.98.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.