MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Sold by Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc.

Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc. trimmed its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 127,407 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 29,338 shares during the quarter. MSCI makes up about 4.2% of Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $73,481,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steph & Co. acquired a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter valued at $35,000. Banque Transatlantique SA raised its position in shares of MSCI by 355.6% in the first quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 82 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 2,666.7% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 83 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its position in shares of MSCI by 47.0% during the 2nd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 97 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $61,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price target on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $655.90.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $560.60 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $562.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $563.52. The company has a market cap of $42.12 billion, a PE ratio of 35.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.34. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $642.45.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 45.63%.

MSCI announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total value of $348,454.08. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 15,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,904,006.90. This trade represents a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.