Walter Public Investments Inc. Lowers Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Walter Public Investments Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,631 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 4,639 shares during the period. MSCI accounts for about 2.0% of Walter Public Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Walter Public Investments Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $11,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Baskin Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.3% in the third quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. now owns 72,493 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,258,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its position in MSCI by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 4,404 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,567,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Washington Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $233,000. NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of MSCI by 50.6% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 953 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $555,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 15.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,090 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,465,000 after buying an additional 1,499 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $607.51 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $48.13 billion, a PE ratio of 41.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $571.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $525.64. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The business had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSCI. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $614.14.

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.