Paloma Partners Management Co Invests $641,000 in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 1,100 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $641,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in MSCI by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the second quarter valued at $91,748,000. Grove Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 52.4% in the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,779 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 207.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 2,956 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,657,000 after acquiring an additional 1,996 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 29.6% during the 2nd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 21,384 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,302,000 after acquiring an additional 4,890 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $608.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.93, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.10. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $631.70. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $592.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $548.09.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.83.

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.