Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Buys Shares of 8,550 MSCI Inc $MSCI

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,550 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,788,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,062,626,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $528,560,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $480,613,000. Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $301,493,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth $234,905,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $564.08 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s fifty day moving average is $582.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $573.19. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $501.08 and a 52-week high of $644.77.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $4.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.99 by ($0.05). MSCI had a net margin of 40.74% and a negative return on equity of 55.19%. The company had revenue of $867.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $870.71 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.17 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 44.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $760.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group set a $615.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $690.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $715.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $742.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI 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.