Atria Investments Inc Acquires 961 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,831 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 961 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in MSCI were worth $8,554,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 136.4% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Steph & Co. bought a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its stake in MSCI by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA boosted its stake in MSCI by 355.6% in the 1st 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 period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $582.54 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $561.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $560.15. The company has a market cap of $45.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.92, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $486.73 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $793.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $794.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.86 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, October 28th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 47.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial upgraded MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays boosted their price target on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $655.90.

About MSCI

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.