Westpac Banking Corp Buys New Shares in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Westpac Banking Corp purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,579 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,124,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,445,000. GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd bought a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $66,704,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,924,000. Korea Investment CORP purchased a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter worth approximately $23,690,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter worth approximately $2,174,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $564.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $41.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $582.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $573.55. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $501.08 and a 12 month high of $644.77.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note 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 company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $742.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $690.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of 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 assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $709.50.

About MSCI

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.