Fisher Asset Management LLC Trims Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Fisher Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 144,928 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 8,741 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $84,483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 13,130 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,653,000 after acquiring an additional 3,409 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 810 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 20.2% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 153,943 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $89,738,000 after purchasing an additional 25,849 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 32.1% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 107 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 1,127.9% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 5,759 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,357,000 after buying an additional 5,290 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $592.70 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $631.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.92, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $586.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $543.26.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for 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%. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.45 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid 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 1.08%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. Barclays increased their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company 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.