First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 73.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,046 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,051 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in MSCI were worth $14,039,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,320,761 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,884,233,000 after acquiring an additional 39,450 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its holdings in MSCI by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,755,747 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,581,055,000 after acquiring an additional 361,630 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in MSCI by 2.2% in the fourth 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 last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in 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 valued at $829,781,000 after purchasing an additional 168,405 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at $528,560,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MSCI shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on MSCI from $715.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group started 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $690.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $709.50.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $575.92 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.24. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $501.08 and a fifty-two week high of $644.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $596.33 and a 200-day moving average of $576.63.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $867.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $870.71 million. MSCI had a net margin of 40.74% and a negative return on equity of 55.19%. The company’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.17 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 19.61 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. 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 payout ratio is presently 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.