Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. Acquires 242 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 49.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 729 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the period. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $420,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 136.4% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Steph & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its holdings in MSCI by 50.0% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA boosted its position in MSCI by 355.6% during the first quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 82 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in MSCI by 2,666.7% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 83 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $582.50 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $43.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.34. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $562.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $561.69.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.63%.

MSCI declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $655.90.

MSCI Company 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.