Jensen Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Jensen Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 51.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,270 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,140 shares during the period. Jensen Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,466,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,719,381 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,886,777,000 after purchasing an additional 36,043 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in MSCI by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,734,519 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $972,111,000 after purchasing an additional 9,304 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 74.9% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $701,522,000 after purchasing an additional 623,712 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lifted its holdings in MSCI by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 1,323,058 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $741,508,000 after purchasing an additional 23,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,038,761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $587,575,000 after purchasing an additional 44,234 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Argus upped their price objective on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight research 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 company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $584.79.

MSCI Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $570.43. 39,299 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 563,221. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $533.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $522.22. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.26 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

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.