Empire Life Investments Inc. Has $5.10 Million Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Empire Life Investments Inc. reduced its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,746 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 102 shares during the quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $5,098,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in MSCI by 9.7% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 239,933 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $134,475,000 after buying an additional 21,310 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its stake in MSCI by 9.6% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 88,097 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $49,307,000 after acquiring an additional 7,718 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth $91,748,000. Grove Bank & Trust increased its stake in MSCI by 52.4% in the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,779 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its stake in MSCI by 313.9% in the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 30,456 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $17,069,000 after purchasing an additional 23,097 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI started coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. Argus increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Redburn Atlantic raised 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.83.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $577.95 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $631.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.95, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $580.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $530.20.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.45 EPS. Analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.91 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

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.