Banque Pictet & Cie SA Makes New $145.99 Million Investment in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Banque Pictet & Cie SA bought a new position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 257,285 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $145,986,000. MSCI makes up approximately 0.8% of Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec boosted its stake in MSCI by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 7,343 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,152,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 19.0% during the first quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 450 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 24.5% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 583,155 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $317,341,000 after buying an additional 114,913 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in MSCI by 24.8% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,348 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,590,000 after buying an additional 1,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in MSCI by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 257,283 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $145,494,000 after buying an additional 8,248 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total value of $348,454.08. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 15,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,904,006.90. This represents a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction of $247,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 21,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,901,450. This trade represents a 2.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Monday. UBS Group increased their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $642.63.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $573.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $43.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.35 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $564.90 and its 200 day moving average is $563.09. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $486.73 and a one year high of $634.99.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $793.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.87 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.86 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

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.