Headlands Technologies LLC Acquires 6,610 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 210.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,749 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 6,610 shares during the quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $4,697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in MSCI by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 239,933 shares of the technology company's stock worth $134,475,000 after purchasing an additional 21,310 shares during the last quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 13,720 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,761,000 after acquiring an additional 2,135 shares in the last quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $959,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $904,000. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $2,755,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $4.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $562.35. 379,288 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 564,218. The company has a market cap of $44.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.39, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.11. The business's fifty day moving average price is $538.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $521.58. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.26 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $485.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on MSCI from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $584.79.

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.