Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Acquires Shares of 1,428 MSCI Inc $MSCI

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,428 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,062,626,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in MSCI by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,320,761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,884,233,000 after acquiring an additional 39,450 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its position in MSCI by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,755,747 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,581,055,000 after purchasing an additional 361,630 shares during the last quarter. 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. Finally, 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 2.2%

MSCI stock opened at $562.75 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $501.08 and a 1-year high of $644.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $584.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $574.20.

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 firm had revenue of $867.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $870.71 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 19.61 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors 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 payout ratio is 44.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $700.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. UBS Group set a $615.00 target price on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on MSCI in a research report on Friday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $760.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $709.50.

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.