Aberdeen Group plc Has $38.25 Million Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Aberdeen Group plc boosted its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,411 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,199 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned about 0.09% of MSCI worth $38,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,599,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 8.5% in the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 268 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $155,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 4.3% during the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 509 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.6% during the third quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 3,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,872,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 10,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $536.13 per share, with a total value of $5,473,887.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,487,047 shares in the company, valued at approximately $797,250,508.11. This trade represents a 0.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 21,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,901,450. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $526.21 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $486.73 and a 12-month high of $626.28. The company has a market capitalization of $38.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.54, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $572.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $565.74.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its 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 analysts’ expectations of $819.51 million. MSCI had a net margin of 38.36% and a negative return on equity of 82.59%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.18 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 reacquire up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $715.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $659.00.

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.