Freestone Grove Partners LP Purchases Shares of 50,543 MSCI Inc $MSCI

Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 50,543 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,306,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,062,626,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $528,560,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $480,613,000. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $301,493,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $257,687,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.8%

MSCI opened at $568.57 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $41.34 billion, a PE ratio of 31.10, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day moving average of $579.73 and a 200-day moving average of $573.15. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $501.08 and a 52 week high of $644.77.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $4.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.99 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $867.00 million for 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 for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.17 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 19.61 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 44.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on MSCI from $730.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $715.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $690.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, UBS Group set a $615.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $709.50.

MSCI Company 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.