Fiera Capital Corp Sells 25,845 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Fiera Capital Corp lowered its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,098,936 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 25,845 shares during the quarter. MSCI makes up about 1.9% of Fiera Capital Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Fiera Capital Corp owned approximately 1.40% of MSCI worth $640,603,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in MSCI in the third quarter worth about $58,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MSCI. UBS Group decreased their target price 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. Barclays boosted their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Argus increased their price target on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.83.

MSCI Trading Up 2.8 %

MSCI traded up $15.86 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $591.52. 254,798 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 541,846. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $631.70. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $580.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $531.77. The company has a market capitalization of $46.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.80, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.45 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.95 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

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.