Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Has $1.78 Million Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lowered its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 50.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,050 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,125 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA 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 currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $609.63 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $47.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $591.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $546.58. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $631.70.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective on the stock. Seven 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, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.83.

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.