AMG National Trust Bank Grows Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

AMG National Trust Bank raised its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 11,925 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank’s holdings in MSCI were worth $6,951,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the first quarter valued at $34,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Barclays raised their price target on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.83.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $593.86 on Monday. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $631.70. The business has a 50-day moving average of $583.62 and a 200 day moving average of $538.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.54 billion, a PE ratio of 38.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.45 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

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.