EULAV Asset Management Trims Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

EULAV Asset Management reduced its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 200,972 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,999 shares during the period. MSCI accounts for approximately 2.7% of EULAV Asset Management’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. EULAV Asset Management’s holdings in MSCI were worth $114,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Gries Financial LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 1.3% during the second quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $868,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 1.1% in the second quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 1,793 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 0.7% in the second quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,599,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 8.5% during the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 268 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $155,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 0.2%

MSCI opened at $596.26 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $567.08 and its 200-day moving average is $564.93. The stock has a market cap of $44.80 billion, a PE ratio of 37.79 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $634.99.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors 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 was Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 45.63%.

MSCI announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $690.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on MSCI from $570.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction of $247,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,901,450. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total transaction 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 approximately $8,904,006.90. This represents a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.