abrdn plc Has $61.14 Million Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

abrdn plc raised its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 346.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 108,080 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 83,849 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc owned approximately 0.14% of MSCI worth $61,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 5,600.0% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in MSCI during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 105.1% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 80 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:MSCI opened at $510.07 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $40.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $451.55 and a 52 week high of $617.39. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $552.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $539.43.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $690.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $662.64 million. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. The company’s revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.84 EPS. On average, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. 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%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $600.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.