Heartland Bank & Trust Co Sells 50 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Heartland Bank & Trust Co reduced its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,400 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in MSCI were worth $816,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in MSCI by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 239,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $134,475,000 after buying an additional 21,310 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its position in shares of MSCI by 9.6% in the first 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. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at $91,748,000. Grove Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 52.4% during the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,779 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 313.9% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 30,456 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,069,000 after purchasing an additional 23,097 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $596.38 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $577.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $527.77. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $617.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 business posted $3.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI started coverage on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $615.23.

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.