Empowered Funds LLC Acquires 50 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,471 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.9% during the third quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 1,968 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Conning Inc. raised its stake in MSCI by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 479 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 3.8% in the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 542 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $261,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 5.0% in the second quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 423 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $204,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on MSCI shares. Argus boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.83.

MSCI Stock Up 1.4 %

MSCI stock opened at $589.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $46.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $586.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $541.49. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $631.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. MSCI’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

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.