KBC Group NV Acquires 1,291 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

KBC Group NV grew its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,208 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,291 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in MSCI were worth $7,116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital International Investors raised its stake in MSCI by 0.5% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,734,519 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $972,111,000 after buying an additional 9,304 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after acquiring an additional 37,340 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,047,960 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $504,855,000 after acquiring an additional 13,620 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 129.4% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $352,153,000 after purchasing an additional 412,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in MSCI by 4.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 637,381 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $307,058,000 after purchasing an additional 25,497 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 1.8 %

MSCI stock opened at $593.86 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $631.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $583.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $537.35. The company has a market capitalization of $46.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.45 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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 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 dividend yield of 1.08%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.83.

MSCI Profile

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.