MSCI Inc $MSCI Stake Lowered by PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,664 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,815 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $8,413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSCI. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 499.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 874,882 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $496,417,000 after acquiring an additional 728,900 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 36.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,069,180 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $606,674,000 after acquiring an additional 282,859 shares in the last quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 103.3% during the 4th quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 523,035 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $300,081,000 after acquiring an additional 265,750 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,394,117 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,358,446,000 after acquiring an additional 223,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,674,093 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,489,177,000 after acquiring an additional 165,851 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $715.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $730.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $719.00 to $727.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Evercore upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $692.70.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $588.97 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $42.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.24. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $501.08 and a fifty-two week high of $626.28. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $564.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $565.98.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $850.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $830.91 million. MSCI had a net margin of 40.74% and a negative return on equity of 65.48%. The business’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.00 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 46.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total transaction of $5,920,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 23,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,941,357.92. The trade was a 29.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $252,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,624,640. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About MSCI

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.