Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Takes Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,459 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $728,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the first quarter worth about $34,000. American National Bank increased its position in MSCI by 1,300.0% during the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 70 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC increased its position in MSCI by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock traded down $4.54 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $558.46. The stock had a trading volume of 25,047 shares, compared to its average volume of 574,730. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $512.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $521.95. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $44.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.10.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The firm had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.41 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $584.79.

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.