Quantbot Technologies LP Reduces Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Quantbot Technologies LP reduced its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 33.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,456 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,246 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,598,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the second quarter valued at $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $605.16 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $631.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $588.89 and a 200 day moving average of $544.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly 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. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. MSCI’s payout ratio 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.