Americana Partners LLC Sells 938 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Americana Partners LLC lowered its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,438 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 938 shares during the period. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 7.6% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,003 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,133,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 39.0% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 6,585 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,724,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 20.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 102.1% during the 2nd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $980,000 after acquiring an additional 859 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional boosted its stake in MSCI by 10.1% during the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 492 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,290 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $536.17 per share, with a total value of $1,227,829.30. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 335,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $179,653,945.73. This represents a 0.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total transaction of $348,454.08. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 15,945 shares in the company, valued at $8,904,006.90. This trade represents a 3.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MSCI shares. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $690.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Monday, January 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Seaport Res Ptn raised MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.13.

MSCI Trading Down 3.0%

NYSE MSCI opened at $584.35 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $634.99. The stock has a market cap of $43.91 billion, a PE ratio of 37.03 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $567.97 and its 200 day moving average is $564.95.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.86 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast 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 allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.63%.

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.