AXS Investments LLC Acquires 292 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

AXS Investments LLC boosted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,459 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the period. AXS Investments LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 657.1% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 53 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 153.3% in the 2nd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 76 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 214.8% during the first quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 37.5% during the first quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 99 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. 88.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $640.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Redburn Partners reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $554.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, September 14th. Redburn Atlantic cut MSCI from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $650.00 to $554.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 14th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on MSCI from $577.00 to $533.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $563.86.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI traded down $2.85 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $521.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 354,049 shares, compared to its average volume of 374,434. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $450.00 and a 12 month high of $572.50. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $508.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $502.83. The company has a market cap of $41.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 31st. The technology company reported $3.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $625.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $625.67 million. MSCI had a net margin of 39.76% and a negative return on equity of 97.86%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.85 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 13.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 8th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.00%.

MSCI Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides investment decision support tools for the clients to manage their investment processes worldwide. It operates through four segments: Index, Analytics, ESG and Climate, and All Other Private Assets. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed product creation, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.