MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Bought by Atria Investments Inc

Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 21.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,258 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,104 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc's holdings in MSCI were worth $10,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bridges Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $232,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 27.9% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,667 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,138,000 after acquiring an additional 801 shares in the last quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 27.7% during the third quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 383 shares of the technology company's stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at $234,000. Finally, Equitable Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 24.8% in the third quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 608 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $354,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price 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. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of 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. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. 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 Trading Up 0.5 %

MSCI stock traded up $3.25 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $597.25. 440,950 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 543,799. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $631.70. The firm has a market cap of $46.81 billion, a PE ratio of 39.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $580.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $533.71.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.