Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Makes New $6.18 Million Investment in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 11,035 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,180,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $528,560,000. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust purchased a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth approximately $13,636,000. SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. acquired a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $1,406,000. FourThought Financial Partners LLC raised its position in MSCI by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 11,674 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,697,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862 shares during the period. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $20,454,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $742.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of MSCI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $690.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $730.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on MSCI from $715.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have issued a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $709.50.

MSCI Stock Up 1.3%

MSCI stock opened at $570.96 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $501.08 and a 52-week high of $644.77. The firm has a market cap of $41.51 billion, a PE ratio of 31.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50 day moving average is $581.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $573.12.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $4.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.99 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $867.00 million for 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%.The firm’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.17 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

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.