Alps Advisors Inc. Grows Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Alps Advisors Inc. raised its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 34.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,916 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,539 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $5,626,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in MSCI by 39.0% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 6,585 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,724,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $607,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,192 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 25.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 212 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSCI. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $690.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Monday, January 12th. Evercore upped their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group set a $638.00 target price on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $659.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total transaction of $348,454.08. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 15,945 shares in the company, valued at $8,904,006.90. This represents a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 10,210 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $536.13 per share, for a total transaction of $5,473,887.30. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,487,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $797,250,508.11. This represents a 0.69% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 0.4%

MSCI stock opened at $560.26 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $575.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $566.98. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $626.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $822.53 million during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.18 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 45.89%.

MSCI declared that its board has approved 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 repurchase up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.