Hilltop Holdings Inc. Takes Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 688 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $401,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake 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. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 129.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,153,000 after buying an additional 412,389 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 16.9% during the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after acquiring an additional 318,214 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in MSCI by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $925,531,000 after acquiring an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 358.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $77,900,000 after acquiring an additional 104,474 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $617.29 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $631.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $594.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $548.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.10.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Evercore ISI started coverage on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.83.

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.