Fiera Capital Corp Has $563.69 Million Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 993,437 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,587 shares during the period. MSCI makes up about 1.8% of Fiera Capital Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Fiera Capital Corp owned approximately 1.32% of MSCI worth $563,686,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 1.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,674,093 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,489,177,000 after acquiring an additional 165,851 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,281,311 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,892,463,000 after buying an additional 45,547 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its holdings in MSCI by 4.8% in the second quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,170,333 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,251,718,000 after buying an additional 98,680 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,777,749 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,008,745,000 after acquiring an additional 109,287 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $540.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $39.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.44, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $572.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $565.18. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $486.73 and a 52-week high of $626.28.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $822.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $819.51 million. MSCI had a net margin of 38.36% and a negative return on equity of 82.59%. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.18 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Bank of America initiated coverage on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price objective for the company. Evercore raised their target price on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $715.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $671.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 800 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $518.95 per share, with a total value of $415,160.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,493,847 shares in the company, valued at $775,231,900.65. The trade was a 0.05% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total transaction of $348,454.08. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 15,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,904,006.90. This represents a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have bought a total of 19,300 shares of company stock worth $10,261,957 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.