United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Invests $10.49 Million in MSCI Inc $MSCI

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 18,737 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,062,626,000. Bamco Inc. NY acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth $1,798,710,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $528,560,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth $480,613,000. Finally, Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at about $301,493,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of MSCI opened at $568.57 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $501.08 and a 52-week high of $644.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $579.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $573.15. The company has a market capitalization of $41.34 billion, a PE ratio of 31.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.23.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced 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). MSCI had a net margin of 40.74% and a negative return on equity of 55.19%. The firm had revenue of $867.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $870.71 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.17 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 44.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $742.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group set a $615.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on MSCI from $715.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have issued a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price 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.