MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Position Boosted by Weaver Capital Management LLC

Weaver Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 9.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 691 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Weaver Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 74.9% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $701,522,000 after acquiring an additional 623,712 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 129.4% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,153,000 after buying an additional 412,389 shares during the last quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the first quarter valued at about $114,836,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the second quarter valued at about $91,748,000. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in MSCI in the first quarter worth about $75,957,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $604.08 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.23, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $576.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $527.29. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The business had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.41 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.26 EPS. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.8 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective on the stock. Argus increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $615.23.

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.