Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Buys New Shares in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 11,820 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,596,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Compound Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, SHP Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $690.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $690.00 price objective on MSCI in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Evercore set a $722.00 price objective on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on MSCI in a report on Friday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $760.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. One equities 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $709.50.

MSCI Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of MSCI opened at $571.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $41.53 billion, a PE ratio of 31.25, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.23. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $501.08 and a 1 year high of $644.77. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $579.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $573.14.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced 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). 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $870.71 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.17 EPS. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 19.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 44.86%.

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.