Legal & General Group Plc Takes Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 460,123 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $257,687,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Compound Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at $34,000. SHP Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $564.39 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.03 billion, a PE ratio of 30.87, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.23. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $501.08 and a fifty-two week high of $644.77. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $579.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $573.07.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results 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 quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.17 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 19.61 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be given 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 1.5%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore set a $722.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $690.00 price target on MSCI in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Friday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $760.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings cut MSCI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $700.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $709.50.

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.