NEOS Investment Management LLC Purchases 1,798 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 44.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,887 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares during the quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,003 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,133,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 39.0% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 6,585 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,724,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 20.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $607,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 8.5% in the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 268 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $155,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 70.8% during the 2nd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 835 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total value of $247,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 21,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,901,450. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $518.95 per share, for a total transaction of $415,160.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,231,900.65. The trade was a 0.05% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 19,300 shares of company stock worth $10,261,957. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $655.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $715.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Evercore boosted their target price on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $671.78.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $540.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $39.70 billion, a PE ratio of 34.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $572.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $565.18. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $626.28.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.04. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 82.59% and a net margin of 38.36%.The business had revenue of $822.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $819.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.18 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 52.26%.

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.