Magellan Asset Management Ltd Purchases New Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Magellan Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 305,011 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $175,912,000. MSCI accounts for about 2.0% of Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Magellan Asset Management Ltd owned about 0.39% of MSCI as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in MSCI by 6.3% in the first quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 620 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 361 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 7,413 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 43.3% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,857 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,753,000 after purchasing an additional 8,412 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $655.90.

MSCI Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $582.50 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $43.77 billion, a PE ratio of 36.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $562.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $561.53.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.37 by $0.10. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 110.94% and a net margin of 40.03%.The business had revenue of $793.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $794.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.86 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.63%.

MSCI declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

MSCI 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.