Osaic Holdings Inc. Raises Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 131.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,191 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,654 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,722,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in MSCI by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Gries Financial LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $868,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 1.1% during the second quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 1,793 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,034,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,599,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 268 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $155,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

MSCI Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $580.79 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $634.99. The stock has a market cap of $43.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.81 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $559.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $561.90.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its 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. The business had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.87 million. MSCI had a net margin of 40.03% and a negative return on equity of 110.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.86 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were given 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 is currently 45.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $642.63.

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.