Citigroup Inc. Has $39.47 Million Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Citigroup Inc. lowered its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 52.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,559 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 78,274 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.09% of MSCI worth $39,468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSCI. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MSCI in the second quarter valued at about $547,348,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 91.8% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 691,554 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $392,395,000 after buying an additional 331,040 shares during the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $175,912,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,069,180 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $606,674,000 after buying an additional 282,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Pictet & Cie SA acquired a new position in MSCI in the third quarter worth approximately $145,986,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related 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 cost of $518.95 per share, with a total value of $415,160.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,493,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,231,900.65. This trade represents a 0.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,639 shares in the company, valued at $11,901,450. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 19,300 shares of company stock worth $10,261,957. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $690.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Eight investment 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $671.78.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $550.05 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $572.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $565.13. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $486.73 and a 52-week high of $626.28.

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

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

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

MSCI Company 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.