Raymond James Trust N.A. Sells 31 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Raymond James Trust N.A. trimmed its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,125 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 31 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $656,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price target on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.83.

MSCI Stock Up 0.5 %

MSCI stock opened at $592.70 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $631.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $586.91 and a 200-day moving average of $543.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.45 billion, a PE ratio of 38.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

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.