Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Purchases 4,935 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 176,205 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,935 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $102,715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 74.9% in the second 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 period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 129.4% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $352,153,000 after purchasing an additional 412,389 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth $91,748,000. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the first quarter worth $75,957,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 358.3% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $77,900,000 after purchasing an additional 104,474 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Argus increased their target price on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays increased their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.83.

MSCI Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:MSCI opened at $610.53 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $631.70. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $581.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $535.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.09, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.11.

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. The company had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. MSCI’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 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.