Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Makes New Investment in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 15,665 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,888,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 1.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,508,242 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,483,783,000 after acquiring an additional 131,390 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 buying an additional 45,547 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,170,333 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,251,718,000 after buying an additional 98,680 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 1.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993,524 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,146,298,000 after acquiring an additional 34,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in MSCI by 2.2% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 969,850 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $559,351,000 after acquiring an additional 20,682 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Monday. UBS Group increased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays boosted their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $642.63.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at approximately $11,901,450. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total value of $348,454.08. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 15,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,904,006.90. The trade was a 3.77% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $573.60 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $564.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $563.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.35 and a beta of 1.30. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $794.87 million. MSCI had a net margin of 40.03% and a negative return on equity of 110.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.86 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 45.63%.

MSCI announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.