Meridiem Capital Partners LP Takes $14.98 Million Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Meridiem Capital Partners LP acquired a new position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 26,407 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,984,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 6.6% in the 3rd 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 period. Katamaran Capital LLP grew its holdings in MSCI by 57.1% during the third quarter. Katamaran Capital LLP now owns 4,919 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,791,000 after acquiring an additional 1,788 shares during the period. Dash Acquisitions Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 103.6% during the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 14,958 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,490,000 after acquiring an additional 7,613 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in MSCI by 37.7% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 12,228 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,938,000 after acquiring an additional 3,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP lifted its holdings in MSCI by 12.6% in the third quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 209,831 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $119,060,000 after acquiring an additional 23,500 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $690.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $715.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $671.78.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI traded up $9.23 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $545.58. 67,126 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 649,192. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $486.73 and a 12-month high of $626.28. The company has a market cap of $40.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $568.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $565.04.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th were given a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $524.18 per share, for a total transaction of $3,145,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $782,625,376.46. The trade was a 0.40% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.