Swedbank AB Sells 1,081 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Swedbank AB cut its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 154,107 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,081 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned 0.20% of MSCI worth $89,834,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in MSCI during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during 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 stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. 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. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.83.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $589.57 on Monday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $631.70. The company has a market capitalization of $46.20 billion, a PE ratio of 38.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $586.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $542.48.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. MSCI’s 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.