Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Acquires New Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 68 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 0.9% in the third quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 1,968 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Conning Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 4.1% in the second quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 479 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 542 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 423 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 618 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus raised their target price on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.83.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $610.53 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $581.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $535.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $631.70.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. 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.