Baird Financial Group Inc. Has $83.71 Million Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Baird Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 145,147 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,161 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.19% of MSCI worth $83,712,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Steph & Co. bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. Banque Transatlantique SA lifted its position in MSCI by 355.6% during the first quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 82 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2,666.7% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 83 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 47.0% during the second quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 97 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $61,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total value of $348,454.08. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 15,945 shares in the company, valued at $8,904,006.90. The trade was a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $540.50 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $560.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $562.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.25 and a beta of 1.32. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $486.73 and a 1 year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.37 by $0.10. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 110.94% and a net margin of 40.03%.The firm had revenue of $793.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.86 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Seaport Res Ptn raised MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Monday. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $655.90.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.