Covea Finance Takes $30.29 Million Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Covea Finance purchased a new stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 53,387 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,292,000. Covea Finance owned 0.07% of MSCI at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,267,000 after acquiring an additional 3,761 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP increased its position in shares of MSCI by 12.6% in the third quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 209,831 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $119,060,000 after purchasing an additional 23,500 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in MSCI by 32.3% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,448 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,793,000 after purchasing an additional 2,061 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 4.7% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 7,809 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,431,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Finally, Norden Group LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 16.2% during the third quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 5,140 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,917,000 after buying an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $581.43 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $560.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $562.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.85 and a beta of 1.32. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $486.73 and a fifty-two week high of $634.99.

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

MSCI announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at MSCI

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group upped their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $642.63.

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.