MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Purchased by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 32.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,448 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,061 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,793,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth approximately $547,348,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in MSCI by 355.7% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 660,690 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $365,976,000 after buying an additional 515,713 shares during the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth $175,912,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the first quarter valued at about $119,408,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 27.7% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 786,321 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $453,513,000 after acquiring an additional 170,551 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on MSCI. UBS Group raised their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Monday, December 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned 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 $642.63.

MSCI Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $585.36 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.98 billion, a PE ratio of 37.10 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $562.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $562.66. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $486.73 and a one year high of $634.99.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $794.87 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 110.94% and a net margin of 40.03%.The business’s revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.86 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.63%.

MSCI declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total value of $348,454.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 15,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,904,006.90. This represents a 3.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,290 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $536.17 per share, for a total transaction of $1,227,829.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 335,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $179,653,945.73. This represents a 0.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.