LGT Group Foundation Buys 2,528 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

LGT Group Foundation lifted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 26.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,929 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,528 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in MSCI were worth $6,592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 100.0% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 68 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank bought a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $50,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $715.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $690.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $655.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $671.78.

MSCI Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE MSCI opened at $565.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.54 billion, a PE ratio of 36.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $570.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $565.53. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $626.28.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 6,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $524.18 per share, with a total value of $3,145,080.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,047 shares in the company, valued at $782,625,376.46. This trade represents a 0.40% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,901,450. This trade represents a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.