Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Purchases 32 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 669 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 74.9% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $701,522,000 after buying an additional 623,712 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in MSCI by 129.4% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,153,000 after buying an additional 412,389 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $91,748,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in MSCI in the first quarter worth $75,957,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 358.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,900,000 after purchasing an additional 104,474 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $610.53 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $631.70. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $581.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $535.52. The firm has a market cap of $47.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSCI. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.83.

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.