Raymond James Trust N.A. Has $656,000 Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Raymond James Trust N.A. decreased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,125 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 31 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Planning Capital Management Corp grew its position in MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $592.70 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $586.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $543.26. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $631.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS 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 business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 42.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. UBS Group decreased their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI began coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.83.

MSCI 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.