Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Invests $343,000 in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 712 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $343,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Legacy Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 664 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Conning Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 4.1% during the second quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 479 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in MSCI by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,080 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,177,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.8% in the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 542 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 423 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $204,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $551.71 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $546.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $521.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The business had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.26 earnings per share. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of MSCI to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Argus upped their price objective on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.00.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.