Savant Capital LLC Sells 5,491 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Savant Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 66.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,771 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 5,491 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,572,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 6.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,777,749 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,008,745,000 after purchasing an additional 109,287 shares in the last quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 103.6% during the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 14,958 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,490,000 after purchasing an additional 7,613 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP lifted its position in MSCI by 12.6% during the third quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 209,831 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $119,060,000 after purchasing an additional 23,500 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 37.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 12,228 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,938,000 after buying an additional 3,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 961,843 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $545,759,000 after buying an additional 71,720 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 10,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $536.13 per share, with a total value of $5,473,887.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,487,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $797,250,508.11. This represents a 0.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total value of $247,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,901,450. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE MSCI opened at $560.26 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $42.10 billion, a PE ratio of 35.71, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.29. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $626.28. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $575.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $566.98.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 38.36% and a negative return on equity of 82.59%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.18 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI declared that its board has approved a share repurchase 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 buy up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be paid a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 45.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSCI. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. UBS Group set a $638.00 price objective on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Evercore raised their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $659.00.

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.