Townsquare Capital LLC Has $28.40 Million Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Townsquare Capital LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 54.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 48,720 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,083 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $28,400,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Avestar Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth about $219,000. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in MSCI by 9.9% during the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 511 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $298,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its position in MSCI by 548.9% during the third quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 3,783 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,205,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in MSCI by 0.4% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 51,116 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,797,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $210,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target for the company. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.83.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $601.96 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $587.82 and a 200-day moving average of $544.08. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $631.70. The stock has a market cap of $47.18 billion, a PE ratio of 39.52, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.