Aviva PLC Has $57.03 Million Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Aviva PLC lifted its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 98,874 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,309 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $57,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 412 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 20.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 4,482 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,585,000 after acquiring an additional 772 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC raised its position in MSCI by 35.9% in the 2nd quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 2,409 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,389,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares during the last quarter. Malaga Cove Capital LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 48.0% in the second quarter. Malaga Cove Capital LLC now owns 1,486 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Middleton & Co. Inc. MA increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.7% in the second quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA now owns 12,435 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,172,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MSCI. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays upped their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $655.90.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $582.50 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $486.73 and a one year high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $43.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $562.55 and its 200-day moving average is $561.69.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.10. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 110.94% and a net margin of 40.03%.The business had revenue of $793.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.86 EPS. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 45.63%.

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.