Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Buys 4,355 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 194.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,592 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,355 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,802,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 136.4% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Steph & Co. bought a new position in MSCI during the second quarter worth about $35,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its position in MSCI by 50.0% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA increased its position in MSCI by 355.6% during the first quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 82 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Up 8.4%

MSCI opened at $592.75 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $561.40 and its 200-day moving average is $559.82. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $45.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.25, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.10. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The company had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $794.87 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.86 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, October 28th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MSCI. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $647.70.

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.