SG Americas Securities LLC Raises Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 1,506.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 69,426 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 65,105 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $39,832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MSCI. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 7.6% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,003 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,133,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 39.0% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 6,585 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,724,000 after buying an additional 1,846 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 20.9% in the second 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 period. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at $254,000. Finally, Waterloo Capital L.P. purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at $279,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $252,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 22,544 shares in the company, valued at $12,624,640. The trade was a 1.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $524.18 per share, for a total transaction of $3,145,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,493,047 shares in the company, valued at $782,625,376.46. The trade was a 0.40% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSCI. UBS Group set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of MSCI from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $710.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Bank of America began coverage on MSCI in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $674.00.

MSCI Trading Down 1.4%

MSCI opened at $530.02 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $38.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $562.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $564.11. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $486.73 and a 12-month high of $626.28.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 52.26%.

MSCI Profile

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.