Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Invests $6.60 Million in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 11,820 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,596,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,062,626,000. Bamco Inc. NY acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,798,710,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $528,560,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $480,613,000. Finally, Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $301,493,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $571.20 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.53 billion, a PE ratio of 31.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.23. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $501.08 and a one year high of $644.77. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $579.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $573.14.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $4.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.99 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $867.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $870.71 million. MSCI had a net margin of 40.74% and a negative return on equity of 55.19%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.17 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. UBS Group set a $615.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Evercore set a $722.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $709.50.

About MSCI

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.