Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Purchases 904 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. raised its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 10.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,702 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $5,656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its stake in MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.83.

MSCI Stock Up 0.5 %

MSCI opened at $604.96 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $631.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $589.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $544.93.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business posted $3.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.06%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.02%.

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.