Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Decreases Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA lowered its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,634 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 240 shares during the quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in MSCI were worth $6,086,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 672 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,838 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,171,000 after buying an additional 662 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 575 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $200,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in MSCI by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 99,954 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $56,539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,847 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $551.71 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $43.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.66, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $546.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $521.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Barclays boosted their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded MSCI to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.00.

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.