MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Acquired by Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 548.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,783 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,205,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth about $40,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have 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 on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group cut their target price on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.83.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI opened at $605.16 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $588.89 and its 200-day moving average is $544.51. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $631.70. The company has a market capitalization of $47.43 billion, a PE ratio of 39.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

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.