Danske Bank A S Acquires New Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 69,203 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,266,000. Danske Bank A S owned about 0.09% of MSCI as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 7.6% during the 1st 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 period. Woodline Partners LP boosted 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 worth $3,724,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $920,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of MSCI by 47.2% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 365 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. UBS Group set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $710.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $655.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note 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 given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $674.00.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $556.23 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $567.09 and a 200 day moving average of $564.52. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $486.73 and a 52-week high of $626.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.87 billion, a PE ratio of 35.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.04. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 82.59% and a net margin of 38.36%.The firm had revenue of $822.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $819.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.18 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were given a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis 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 is presently 52.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $518.95 per share, with a total value of $415,160.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,493,847 shares in the company, valued at $775,231,900.65. This represents a 0.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is owned by 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.