Petrus Trust Company LTA Purchases Shares of 58,146 MSCI Inc $MSCI

Petrus Trust Company LTA acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 58,146 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,564,000. MSCI accounts for about 3.1% of Petrus Trust Company LTA’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in MSCI during the second quarter worth approximately $3,062,626,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of MSCI by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,320,761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,884,233,000 after buying an additional 39,450 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY acquired a new position in MSCI in the second quarter valued at $1,798,710,000. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,467,556 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,415,713,000 after purchasing an additional 52,242 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,446,291 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $829,781,000 after purchasing an additional 168,405 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Up 0.1%

MSCI stock opened at $564.39 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $579.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $573.07. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $501.08 and a 52-week high of $644.77. The company has a market capitalization of $41.03 billion, a PE ratio of 30.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.23.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company 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 1.5%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSCI. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on MSCI from $730.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on MSCI from $715.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered MSCI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group set a $615.00 target price on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $709.50.

MSCI 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.