Cynosure Group LLC Sells 106 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Cynosure Group LLC cut its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 760 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 106 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

MSCI Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $605.16 on Thursday. 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 $588.89 and its 200-day moving average is $544.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.73, a PEG ratio of 3.08 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $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 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 currently 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.