Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Grows Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 52.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,085 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in MSCI were worth $632,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Moran Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,123 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,730,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth $6,442,000. EULAV Asset Management increased its stake in MSCI by 8.5% in the third quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 188,457 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $109,857,000 after purchasing an additional 14,754 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 4.7% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 18,959 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,052,000 after purchasing an additional 859 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 66.4% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,401 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after buying an additional 1,357 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $589.25 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $631.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.69, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $586.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $541.49.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.83.

About MSCI

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.