Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Acquires 9,174 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 61,255 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,174 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned about 0.08% of MSCI worth $35,708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 74.9% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $701,522,000 after buying an additional 623,712 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 412,389 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $91,748,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $75,957,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in MSCI by 358.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,900,000 after purchasing an additional 104,474 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target on the stock. Argus lifted their price objective on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.83.

MSCI Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $593.86 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $631.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $583.62 and its 200-day moving average is $537.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.99, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

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.