Avanza Fonder AB Has $3.98 Million Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Avanza Fonder AB grew its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 28.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,943 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,528 shares during the period. Avanza Fonder AB’s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,674,093 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,489,177,000 after purchasing an additional 165,851 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in MSCI by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,320,761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,884,233,000 after purchasing an additional 39,450 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY increased its position in MSCI by 10.3% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,394,117 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,358,446,000 after buying an additional 223,784 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 6.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,777,749 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,008,745,000 after buying an additional 109,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in MSCI by 36.0% in the third 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 during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $536.51 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $486.73 and a 12-month high of $626.28. The business has a 50 day moving average of $564.29 and a 200-day moving average of $564.35. The stock has a market cap of $39.42 billion, a PE ratio of 34.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSCI. Evercore raised their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings cut MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of MSCI from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $710.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $715.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $674.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $524.18 per share, for a total transaction of $3,145,080.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $782,625,376.46. The trade was a 0.40% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $252,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,624,640. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.