Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires 104,474 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 358.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 104,474 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $77,900,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 360 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 19,331.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 26,232 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,291,000 after buying an additional 26,097 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 36.9% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,596 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,096,000 after buying an additional 970 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its holdings in MSCI by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 745 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $435,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lecap Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in MSCI by 55.9% during the 3rd quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 5,874 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,424,000 after buying an additional 2,105 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Down 0.6 %

MSCI traded down $3.87 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $592.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 152,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 535,247. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $577.70 and its 200-day moving average is $527.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.71, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.26 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSCI. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $615.23.

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.