NS Partners Ltd Increases Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

NS Partners Ltd raised its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,721 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,506 shares during the period. MSCI accounts for approximately 1.8% of NS Partners Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. NS Partners Ltd owned 0.10% of MSCI worth $43,557,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 74.9% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company's stock worth $701,522,000 after purchasing an additional 623,712 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised 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 acquiring an additional 412,389 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at $91,748,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in MSCI in the first quarter valued at about $75,957,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 358.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $77,900,000 after purchasing an additional 104,474 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Argus lifted their price target on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group cut their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment 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, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $631.83.

MSCI Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $12.91 on Wednesday, reaching $584.22. The company's stock had a trading volume of 573,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 542,664. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $585.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $540.12. The company has a market capitalization of $45.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.19, a PEG ratio of 3.09 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 - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $716.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

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.