Atria Investments Inc Grows Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 21.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,258 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,104 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in MSCI were worth $10,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Argus upped their price target on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.83.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $594.00 on Monday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $631.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $580.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $533.23. The firm has a market cap of $46.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.00, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. MSCI’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.