NS Partners Ltd Purchases 1,506 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

NS Partners Ltd increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 74,721 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,506 shares during the quarter. MSCI makes up 1.8% of NS Partners Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. NS Partners Ltd’s holdings in MSCI were worth $43,557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 1,968 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Conning Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 479 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 542 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 423 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $204,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $596.93 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $631.70. The company has a market cap of $46.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $585.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $540.12.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average 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.