Bank of Jackson Hole Trust Boosts Stake in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Bank of Jackson Hole Trust raised its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 395.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 119 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust’s holdings in MSCI were worth $69,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 1.3% during the second quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 10,502 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,057,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 11.3% in the second quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 464 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 10.6% in the second quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 499 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 13.7% in the second quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 12,410 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the second quarter valued at approximately $425,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $655.90.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $566.70 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $561.25 and its 200-day moving average is $559.99. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $486.73 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $43.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.91, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.37 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $794.87 million. MSCI had a net margin of 40.03% and a negative return on equity of 110.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.86 EPS. Equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.68%.

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

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.