Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Has $3.42 Million Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 55.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,874 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,105 shares during the quarter. MSCI comprises 0.7% of Lecap Asset Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Lecap Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 74.9% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $701,522,000 after purchasing an additional 623,712 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 129.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,153,000 after buying an additional 412,389 shares during the period. Findlay Park Partners LLP bought a new position in MSCI in the first quarter valued at approximately $114,836,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth $91,748,000. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 1st quarter valued at $75,957,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $615.23.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $604.08 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $47.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $576.86 and its 200-day moving average is $527.29. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.26 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.8 EPS for the current year.

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.