United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Takes $10.49 Million Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• United Capital Financial Advisors initiated a $10.49 million position in MSCI, purchasing 18,737 shares during the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own approximately 89.97% of the company.
• MSCI reported quarterly revenue of $867 million, up 12.2% year over year, but earnings per share of $4.94 fell slightly short of analysts’ $4.99 estimate.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $709.50, while MSCI announced a quarterly dividend of $2.05 per share, representing a 1.4% yield.

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 18,737 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $10,493,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,062,626,000. Bamco Inc. NY acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,798,710,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $528,560,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $480,613,000. Finally, Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at $301,493,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $568.57 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $501.08 and a 1 year high of $644.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.23. The business's 50 day moving average price is $579.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $573.15.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $4.94 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.99 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $867.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $870.71 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 55.19% and a net margin of 40.74%.MSCI's revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.17 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSCI. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $760.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $715.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $742.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $690.00 target price on MSCI in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered MSCI from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have given a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $709.50.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.

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