1,459 Shares in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Purchased by Pallas Capital Advisors LLC

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,459 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $728,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSCI. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. American National Bank lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 1,300.0% in the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 70 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock traded down $4.54 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $558.46. 25,047 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 574,730. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.24 billion, a PE ratio of 38.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.10. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $617.39. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $512.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $521.95.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.26 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised MSCI to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $584.79.

About MSCI

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.