MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by PineStone Asset Management Inc.

PineStone Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 33.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 485,020 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 245,966 shares during the period. MSCI accounts for 2.7% of PineStone Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. PineStone Asset Management Inc. owned 0.61% of MSCI worth $282,733,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 239,933 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $134,475,000 after acquiring an additional 21,310 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its holdings in MSCI by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 88,097 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $49,307,000 after purchasing an additional 7,718 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $91,748,000. Grove Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 52.4% in the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,779 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after buying an additional 1,299 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 313.9% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 30,456 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,069,000 after buying an additional 23,097 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Argus upped their price objective on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group decreased their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $624.23.

MSCI Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:MSCI opened at $571.02 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $631.70. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $580.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $529.63. The company has a market cap of $44.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.45 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.94 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

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.