Diversified Trust Co Increases Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Diversified Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 39.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,889 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 814 shares during the quarter. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,684,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV raised its holdings in MSCI by 96.4% in the third quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 868 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $506,000 after buying an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter worth $241,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 48.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 415 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Czech National Bank raised its position in MSCI by 6.1% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 16,021 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,339,000 after acquiring an additional 925 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in MSCI by 3.3% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 22,404 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,060,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Argus upped their price objective on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $598.07.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $596.85 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $617.39. The company has a market capitalization of $47.28 billion, a PE ratio of 40.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $561.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $522.99.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.26 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. MSCI’s dividend 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.