Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC Acquires New Stake in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 9,448 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,291,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 7.6% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,003 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,133,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP boosted its holdings in MSCI by 39.0% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 6,585 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,724,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $607,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its stake in MSCI by 1.0% during the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 35,130 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $20,261,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the period. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth $88,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSCI. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on MSCI in a report on Friday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $760.00 price target for the company. UBS Group set a $615.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $730.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $700.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $690.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. One research 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $709.50.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI opened at $570.96 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.51 billion, a PE ratio of 31.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $581.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $573.12. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $501.08 and a 12-month high of $644.77.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $4.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $870.71 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $2.05 dividend. 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%.

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.