Icon Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 54.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,160 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,168 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,591,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSCI. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 85.4% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 799 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $410,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 80.8% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 4,812 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,696,000 after acquiring an additional 2,150 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.0% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 24,206 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,567,000 after acquiring an additional 923 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc raised its position in shares of MSCI by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,890 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,422,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. boosted its stake in MSCI by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 936 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $525,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $604.96 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $631.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $589.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $544.93. The company has a market cap of $47.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.72, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.11.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven research 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.83.

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.