UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Grows Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 14.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,588 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 981 shares during the quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Birch Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Birch Financial Group LLC now owns 1,066 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 18.9% in the third quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,704 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 1,541 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 17.9% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 230 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter worth about $11,511,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its stake in MSCI by 10.5% during the third quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 87,772 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $49,803,000 after buying an additional 8,359 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of MSCI opened at $589.11 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $568.99 and a 200 day moving average of $565.07. The company has a market cap of $44.27 billion, a PE ratio of 37.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $486.73 and a 52-week high of $634.99.

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

MSCI declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 10,210 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $536.13 per share, for a total transaction of $5,473,887.30. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,487,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $797,250,508.11. This trade represents a 0.69% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $690.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.