BNP Paribas Decreases Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

BNP Paribas lowered its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,785 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,234 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas’ holdings in MSCI were worth $10,947,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 74.9% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $701,522,000 after acquiring an additional 623,712 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 129.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $352,153,000 after buying an additional 412,389 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after buying an additional 318,214 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of MSCI by 14.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after acquiring an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth about $91,748,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $601.96 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $631.70. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $587.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $544.08. The firm has a market cap of $47.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The company had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.45 EPS. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Barclays boosted their price target on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.83.

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.