MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Bought by Ritholtz Wealth Management

Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 206.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,657 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,790 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,508,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MSCI during the second quarter worth $547,348,000. Magellan Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $175,912,000. Banque Pictet & Cie SA acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $145,986,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 27.7% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 786,321 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $453,513,000 after acquiring an additional 170,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 90.1% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 350,738 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $202,285,000 after acquiring an additional 166,208 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $602.03 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $567.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $564.86. The stock has a market cap of $45.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.15 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $634.99.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.37 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $794.87 million. MSCI had a net margin of 40.03% and a negative return on equity of 110.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.86 EPS. Equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,290 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $536.17 per share, with a total value of $1,227,829.30. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 335,069 shares in the company, valued at $179,653,945.73. This represents a 0.69% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total transaction of $348,454.08. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 15,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,904,006.90. This represents a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.13.

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.