Madison Asset Management LLC Takes $39.44 Million Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 70,420 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,438,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter valued at about $3,062,626,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $528,560,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in MSCI during the second quarter worth about $480,613,000. Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter valued at approximately $301,493,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter valued at approximately $234,905,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $690.00 price objective on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $742.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Friday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $760.00 price target on the stock. Evercore set a $722.00 price objective on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $690.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $709.50.

MSCI Trading Up 0.3%

MSCI opened at $564.44 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.03 billion, a PE ratio of 30.88, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.23. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $501.08 and a 1-year high of $644.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $583.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $573.90.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced 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). MSCI had a negative return on equity of 55.19% and a net margin of 40.74%.The company had revenue of $867.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $870.71 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 19.61 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. 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.