ProShare Advisors LLC Buys 765 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,212 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 765 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $8,292,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised MSCI to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays upped their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.00.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI opened at $560.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $44.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $617.39. The business’s fifty day moving average is $551.21 and its 200-day moving average is $521.62.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

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.