Qsemble Capital Management LP Invests $210,000 in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 361 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after purchasing an additional 318,214 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted 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 valued at $925,531,000 after purchasing an additional 198,666 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after acquiring an additional 37,340 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,047,960 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $504,855,000 after acquiring an additional 13,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 129.4% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,153,000 after acquiring an additional 412,389 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $604.96 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $589.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $544.93. 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 $47.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.72, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.45 EPS. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MSCI shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.83.

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.