Kingfisher Capital LLC Cuts Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Kingfisher Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 5.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,170 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 287 shares during the period. Kingfisher Capital LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 54.3% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,160 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,591,000 after buying an additional 2,168 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 57.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 39,510 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $23,032,000 after purchasing an additional 14,493 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its position in MSCI by 10.3% in the third quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 9,702 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,656,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 51.2% during the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 130 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.7% in the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 20,844 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,009,000 after purchasing an additional 931 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.83.

MSCI Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $604.96 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $631.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $589.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $544.93. The stock has a market cap of $47.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 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 business had revenue of $724.70 million during 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%. MSCI’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.45 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 42.02%.

MSCI Company 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.