Delta Investment Management LLC Sells 2,068 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Delta Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 57.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,515 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,068 shares during the period. Delta Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $860,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $547,348,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in MSCI by 355.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 660,690 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $365,976,000 after acquiring an additional 515,713 shares in the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter worth $175,912,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in MSCI in the first quarter valued at $119,408,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of MSCI by 27.7% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 786,321 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $453,513,000 after acquiring an additional 170,551 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSCI. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. UBS Group boosted their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $642.63.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 10,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $536.13 per share, for a total transaction of $5,473,887.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,487,047 shares in the company, valued at approximately $797,250,508.11. This represents a 0.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the business’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 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $573.60 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $564.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $563.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.35 and a beta of 1.32. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $486.73 and a fifty-two week high of $634.99.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $794.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.86 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

MSCI declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.