International Assets Investment Management LLC Increases Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 13,659.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,182 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 10,108 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $5,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $679,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,861 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,053,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,656 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $937,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Clarus Wealth Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth $753,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 7,457 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,218,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Down 2.6 %

MSCI opened at $513.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $558.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $539.26. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $451.55 and a 52 week high of $617.39. The company has a market capitalization of $40.64 billion, a PE ratio of 35.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.06.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.29 by $0.39. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. The firm had revenue of $690.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $662.64 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $1.60 dividend. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on MSCI. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Barclays increased their price target on MSCI from $600.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $581.57.

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.