LGT Group Foundation Has $6.59 Million Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

LGT Group Foundation boosted its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 26.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,929 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,528 shares during the quarter. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in MSCI were worth $6,592,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 122,658 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $69,597,000 after acquiring an additional 759 shares in the last quarter. Nutshell Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in MSCI by 1.3% in the third quarter. Nutshell Asset Management Ltd now owns 15,553 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,825,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 7.2% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 743 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. PFG Advisors increased its stake in MSCI by 7.6% in the third quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 6,542 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,712,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 34.3% during the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 80,689 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,981,000 after purchasing an additional 20,606 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSCI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $715.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore upped their target price on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $690.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, UBS Group set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $671.78.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $565.39 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.03, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.29. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $486.73 and a 52-week high of $626.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $570.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $565.53.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was 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 $11,901,450. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $518.95 per share, with a total value of $415,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,231,900.65. The trade was a 0.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.