3,964 Shares in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Purchased by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV bought a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 3,964 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,311,000.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Argus raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.83.

MSCI Trading Down 1.8 %

MSCI opened at $593.86 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $631.70. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $583.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $537.35. The company has a market capitalization of $46.54 billion, a PE ratio of 38.99, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The company had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.45 EPS. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 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, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $1.60 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

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.