Equitable Holdings Inc. Invests $507,000 in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Equitable Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 905 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $507,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth $27,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Compound Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSCI. UBS Group set a $615.00 price target on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on MSCI from $715.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $742.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Evercore set a $722.00 target price on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $690.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $709.50.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $571.20 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $41.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $579.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $573.23. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $501.08 and a fifty-two week high of $644.77.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced 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). 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 the consensus estimate of $870.71 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

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.