DAVENPORT & Co LLC Trims Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

DAVENPORT & Co LLC reduced its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 16.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,593 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,080 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,674,093 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,489,177,000 after acquiring an additional 165,851 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in MSCI by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,320,761 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,884,233,000 after purchasing an additional 39,450 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY increased its holdings in MSCI by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,394,117 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,358,446,000 after purchasing an additional 223,784 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 6.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 109,287 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in MSCI by 36.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,069,180 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $606,674,000 after purchasing an additional 282,859 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Down 2.3%

MSCI stock opened at $522.56 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.29. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $626.28. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $560.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $563.56.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 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 analysts’ expectations of $819.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.18 EPS. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 52.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $715.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating 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. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 price target 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 issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $674.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $524.18 per share, for a total transaction of $3,145,080.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,493,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $782,625,376.46. The trade was a 0.40% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $252,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 22,544 shares in the company, valued at $12,624,640. The trade was a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MSCI 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.