Axa S.A. Has $30.63 Million Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Axa S.A. lessened its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 54.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,582 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 75,193 shares during the period. Axa S.A. owned 0.08% of MSCI worth $30,631,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSCI. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in MSCI by 9.7% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 239,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $134,475,000 after acquiring an additional 21,310 shares in the last quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $959,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth $904,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $2,755,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in MSCI by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 88,097 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $49,307,000 after purchasing an additional 7,718 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Argus increased their price objective on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised MSCI to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.00.

MSCI Stock Up 0.9 %

MSCI opened at $567.39 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $617.39. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $552.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $521.91. The stock has a market cap of $44.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.73, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted 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. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The business had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.41 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.26 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.69%.

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.