MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Purchased by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 48.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,275 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 741 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,719,381 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,886,777,000 after purchasing an additional 36,043 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of MSCI by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,734,519 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $972,111,000 after purchasing an additional 9,304 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $701,522,000 after purchasing an additional 623,712 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP increased its position in shares of MSCI by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 1,323,058 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $741,508,000 after purchasing an additional 23,217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of MSCI by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,047,960 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $504,855,000 after buying an additional 13,620 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Barclays increased their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Argus increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $624.23.

MSCI Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:MSCI opened at $571.02 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $580.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $529.63. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $631.70. The company has a market capitalization of $44.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.45 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.87%.

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.