Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 22 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 732 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors increased 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 valued at $972,111,000 after acquiring an additional 9,304 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $870,627,000 after buying an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.3% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,047,960 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $504,855,000 after buying an additional 13,620 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 129.4% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 637,381 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $307,058,000 after buying an additional 25,497 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $582.00 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $631.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.61 billion, a PE ratio of 38.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $585.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $540.42.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.45 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on MSCI shares. Barclays boosted their target price 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, 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 note on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.