Bessemer Group Inc. Trims Stake in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Bessemer Group Inc. trimmed its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 586,974 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,628 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $333,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 68 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction of $247,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,639 shares in the company, valued at $11,901,450. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,290 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $536.17 per share, with a total value of $1,227,829.30. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 335,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $179,653,945.73. The trade was a 0.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $690.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, UBS Group set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $659.00.

MSCI Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $570.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $42.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $575.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $566.50. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $626.28.

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

MSCI announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, October 28th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 45.89%.

MSCI 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.