DRW Securities LLC Invests $332,000 in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 690 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 623,712 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 129.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $352,153,000 after acquiring an additional 412,389 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its stake in MSCI by 3,600.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 246,781 shares during the period. Findlay Park Partners LLP bought a new position in MSCI during the 1st quarter worth about $114,836,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $91,748,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective 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. Argus increased their target price on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded MSCI to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.00.

MSCI Stock Up 1.6 %

MSCI opened at $560.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $44.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $550.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $521.56. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.26 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

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.