Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes $747,000 Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,333 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $747,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,062,626,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.2% during the 3rd 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 acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,798,710,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,467,556 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,415,713,000 after acquiring an additional 52,242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 13.2% in the fourth 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 0.1%

NYSE MSCI opened at $571.20 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $579.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $573.23. The stock has a market cap of $41.53 billion, a PE ratio of 31.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.23. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $501.08 and a twelve month high of $644.77.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were given a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSCI. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $730.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Evercore set a $722.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $715.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have given a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently 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.