King Luther Capital Management Corp Has $1.05 Million Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 29.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,188 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 917 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,054,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 74.9% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $701,522,000 after purchasing an additional 623,712 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 412,389 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 3,600.0% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 253,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $143,469,000 after buying an additional 246,781 shares during the period. Findlay Park Partners LLP acquired a new stake in MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $114,836,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $91,748,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Argus upped their price target on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.00.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $551.41 on Monday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $617.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $548.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $521.49. The firm has a market cap of $43.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.26 earnings per share. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

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.