EP Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 68 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 15.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 512 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in MSCI by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 59,098 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,429,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266 shares during the last quarter. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC increased its position in MSCI by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 15,525 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,782,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 18,375 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,394,000 after acquiring an additional 3,436 shares during the period. Waterloo Capital L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $670,000. Finally, Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,080 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on MSCI. Evercore ISI began coverage on MSCI in a report on Wednesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of MSCI to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $598.07.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $589.72 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $46.72 billion, a PE ratio of 40.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $617.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $560.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $523.38.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.41 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 earnings per share 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 given 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 dividend yield of 1.09%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.69%.

About MSCI

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.