Inspire Investing LLC Grows Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 7.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,020 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 699 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,827,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Legacy Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 664 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Conning Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 479 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,080 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,177,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 542 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.0% during the second quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 423 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $204,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Down 0.8 %

MSCI stock opened at $551.71 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $617.39. The company has a market capitalization of $43.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $546.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $521.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.41 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.26 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.00.

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.