Petrus Trust Company LTA Trims Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Petrus Trust Company LTA decreased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 43,288 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 92 shares during the quarter. MSCI accounts for approximately 2.5% of Petrus Trust Company LTA’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Petrus Trust Company LTA’s holdings in MSCI were worth $25,234,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in MSCI during the second quarter worth $91,748,000. Grove Bank & Trust raised its position in MSCI by 52.4% during the third 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 period. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 207.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 2,956 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,657,000 after purchasing an additional 1,996 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 29.6% during the second quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 21,384 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,302,000 after purchasing an additional 4,890 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.83.

MSCI Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $608.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $47.65 billion, a PE ratio of 39.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.10. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $631.70. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $592.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $548.09.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. MSCI’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

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.