BNP Paribas Financial Markets Reduces Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

BNP Paribas Financial Markets reduced its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 131,936 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 27,977 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.18% of MSCI worth $74,862,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.6% in the third quarter. GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 119,316 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $67,701,000 after buying an additional 767 shares in the last quarter. Tsai Capital Corp grew its stake in MSCI by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tsai Capital Corp now owns 6,743 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,826,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 9,812 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,567,000 after acquiring an additional 621 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in MSCI by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 89,731 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $50,915,000 after acquiring an additional 12,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in MSCI by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 146,969 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $83,392,000 after acquiring an additional 27,577 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $524.18 per share, for a total transaction of $3,145,080.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,047 shares in the company, valued at $782,625,376.46. This trade represents a 0.40% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $536.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $568.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $565.04. 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 EPS 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 negative return on equity of 82.59% and a net margin of 38.36%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.18 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a $2.05 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 1.5%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. UBS Group set a $638.00 price target on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $690.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 target price for the company. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $671.78.

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.