Atria Investments Inc Lowers Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Atria Investments Inc trimmed its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,226 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,605 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in MSCI were worth $7,505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 1.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,508,242 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,483,783,000 after acquiring an additional 131,390 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,281,311 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,892,463,000 after purchasing an additional 45,547 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY grew its holdings in MSCI by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,170,333 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,251,718,000 after purchasing an additional 98,680 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993,524 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,146,298,000 after purchasing an additional 34,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 6.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,777,749 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,008,745,000 after buying an additional 109,287 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting MSCI

Here are the key news stories impacting MSCI this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha highlights a 13.9% dividend increase and continued double-digit growth outlook for MSCI, a direct positive for income and total-return investors. MSCI: 13.9% Dividend Hike And Double-Digit Growth
• Positive Sentiment: MSCI-driven index additions in major markets (example: Aditya Birla Capital and L&T Finance added to MSCI Global Standard Index) are expected to trigger sizable passive flows into the included stocks, underscoring the commercial importance of MSCI’s index decisions and supporting its recurring-fee franchise. Birla Capital, L&T Finance enter MSCI Index
• Positive Sentiment: MSCI’s increased exposure to Chinese tech in recent revamps (and resulting market moves) illustrates the firm’s influence on global flows and index composition, which can sustain demand for MSCI’s index products and data services. China Stocks Climb as MSCI Boosts Exposure
• Positive Sentiment: Ongoing trend of adding crypto-related and microcap names to MSCI indexes (examples reported this week) demonstrates expanding coverage breadth and keeps MSCI at the center of passive rebalances — a structural tailwind for its indexing and data business. Another crypto firm joins MicroStrategy in MSCI index
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts note MSCI inclusions tend to spur foreign investor interest into affected markets — a market dynamic that benefits index users and validates MSCI’s market impact, but doesn’t directly change MSCI’s revenue mix in the short term. MSCI inclusions to spur foreign interest – analysts
• Neutral Sentiment: Quarterly/annual commentary (Baron Fund note and coverage summaries) describes MSCI as holding steady amid macro and market challenges — supportive context but not a near-term stock mover on its own. MSCI (MSCI) Held Steady Amid Challenges
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/political friction surfaced after an MSCI “freeze” prompted government attention (Indonesia example), which can create short-term volatility in affected markets and raises governance/public-relations risk around index actions. Luhut Preps Recommendations to Improve Market After MSCI Freeze

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 15,945 shares in the company, valued at $8,904,006.90. The trade was a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,290 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $536.17 per share, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 0.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $526.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $573.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $565.89. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $486.73 and a 1 year high of $626.28.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.04. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.18 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders 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 is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 45.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $655.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group set a $638.00 target price on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $715.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Evercore boosted their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $659.00.

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.