Squarepoint Ops LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 484.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 148,812 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 123,340 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $83,341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 52,714.5% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 60,176,298 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,701,134,000 after purchasing an additional 60,062,359 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in MSCI in the second quarter worth approximately $3,062,626,000. Bamco Inc. NY purchased a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter worth $1,798,710,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $528,560,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter worth $480,613,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 4.0%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $550.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.11, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $579.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $575.32. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $501.08 and a 52 week high of $644.77.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 44.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on MSCI from $730.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $690.00 price objective on MSCI in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Evercore set a $722.00 target price on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $700.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus 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.