Burney Co. Acquires 25 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Burney Co. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 961 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Burney Co.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSCI. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $496,541,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 129.4% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,153,000 after purchasing an additional 412,389 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its position in MSCI by 3,600.0% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 253,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $143,469,000 after purchasing an additional 246,781 shares during the period. Findlay Park Partners LLP purchased a new stake in MSCI during the first quarter valued at approximately $114,836,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter valued at approximately $91,748,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 0.4 %

MSCI traded up $2.29 during trading on Thursday, hitting $582.44. 271,855 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 571,137. The company has a market cap of $46.14 billion, a PE ratio of 39.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $523.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $521.83. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted 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 company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.26 earnings per share. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.78 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. 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 report on Monday, May 13th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of MSCI to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Eight 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $584.79.

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.