MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Purchased by Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,255 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 9,174 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned approximately 0.08% of MSCI worth $35,708,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,734,519 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $972,111,000 after purchasing an additional 9,304 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $870,627,000 after purchasing an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,047,960 shares of the technology company's stock worth $504,855,000 after acquiring an additional 13,620 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in MSCI by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 637,381 shares of the technology company's stock worth $307,058,000 after acquiring an additional 25,497 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSCI. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Argus increased their target price on 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 increased 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $631.83.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI traded down $10.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $593.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 525,037 shares, compared to its average volume of 546,098. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $631.70. The stock has a market cap of $46.54 billion, a PE ratio of 38.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The company's 50 day moving average is $583.62 and its 200 day moving average is $537.85.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.45 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 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.