MSCI Inc $MSCI Stock Position Raised by Howard Capital Management Inc.

Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 11.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 464 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 136.4% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Steph & Co. acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 355.6% during the 1st quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 82 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays increased their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seaport Res Ptn raised MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $655.90.

MSCI Stock Up 2.6%

MSCI opened at $582.54 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $561.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $560.15. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $486.73 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

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

MSCI declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.68%.

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.