Mackenzie Financial Corp Acquires 3,092 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 37.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,295 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,092 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in MSCI were worth $5,441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 74.9% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $701,522,000 after acquiring an additional 623,712 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 129.4% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,153,000 after purchasing an additional 412,389 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its position in shares of MSCI by 3,600.0% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 253,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $143,469,000 after purchasing an additional 246,781 shares during the period. Findlay Park Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 1st quarter valued at $114,836,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at $91,748,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $575.83 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $617.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.31, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $557.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $522.18.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.26 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MSCI. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of MSCI to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.00.

MSCI 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.