Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Has $986,000 Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. lowered its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 61.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,738 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,744 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $986,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 165,851 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of MSCI by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,281,311 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,892,463,000 after acquiring an additional 45,547 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,170,333 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,251,718,000 after purchasing an additional 98,680 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993,524 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,146,298,000 after purchasing an additional 34,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $1,008,745,000 after purchasing an additional 109,287 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group set a $638.00 target price on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $715.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $671.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $518.95 per share, with a total value of $415,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,493,847 shares in the company, valued at $775,231,900.65. This represents a 0.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total value of $247,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,901,450. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have acquired 19,300 shares of company stock worth $10,261,957 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $557.71 on Thursday. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $486.73 and a 52-week high of $626.28. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $572.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $565.08. The firm has a market cap of $40.97 billion, a PE ratio of 35.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced 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 business had revenue of $822.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $819.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.18 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be paid a $2.05 dividend. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.26%.

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.