MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Acquired by Capital World Investors

Capital World Investors boosted its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 89,731 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 12,406 shares during the period. Capital World Investors’ holdings in MSCI were worth $50,915,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,674,093 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,489,177,000 after acquiring an additional 165,851 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in MSCI by 1.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,281,311 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,892,463,000 after acquiring an additional 45,547 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,170,333 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,251,718,000 after purchasing an additional 98,680 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993,524 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,146,298,000 after buying an additional 34,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 6.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,777,749 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,008,745,000 after purchasing an additional 109,287 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 6,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $524.18 per share, with a total value of $3,145,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,047 shares in the company, valued at approximately $782,625,376.46. This trade represents a 0.40% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price objective for the company. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $671.78.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $536.64 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $626.28. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $568.95 and its 200-day moving average is $565.04. The company has a market cap of $39.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $822.53 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $819.51 million. MSCI had a net margin of 38.36% and a negative return on equity of 82.59%. MSCI’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.18 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were given a dividend of $2.05 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.26%.

MSCI Company 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.