Swedbank AB Reduces Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Swedbank AB lowered its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 11.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 121,491 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 16,160 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in MSCI were worth $69,703,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,674,093 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,489,177,000 after buying an additional 165,851 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,320,761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,884,233,000 after buying an additional 39,450 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 10.3% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,394,117 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,358,446,000 after buying an additional 223,784 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 6.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,777,749 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,008,745,000 after buying an additional 109,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 36.0% in 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 during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MSCI. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $715.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings cut MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group lifted their target price on MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MSCI from $719.00 to $727.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $692.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total value of $5,920,400.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 23,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,941,357.92. This represents a 29.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,544 shares in the company, valued at $12,624,640. The trade was a 1.96% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $581.45 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $560.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $564.07. The company has a market capitalization of $42.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 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.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.17. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 40.74%.The business had revenue of $850.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $830.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.00 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $2.05 dividend. 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 presently 46.83%.

MSCI 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.