UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Grows Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 14.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,588 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 981 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Birch Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Birch Financial Group LLC now owns 1,066 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $605,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 18.9% during the third quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,704 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,506,000 after acquiring an additional 1,541 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in MSCI by 17.9% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 230 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $11,511,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in MSCI by 10.5% in the third quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 87,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $49,803,000 after purchasing an additional 8,359 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSCI. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $690.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Seaport Research Partners upgraded shares of MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $650.13.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $589.11 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $634.99. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $568.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $565.07.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 40.03% and a negative return on equity of 110.94%. The firm had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $794.87 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.86 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in 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 generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,290 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were acquired 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 directly owned 335,069 shares in the company, valued at $179,653,945.73. The trade was a 0.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total value of $348,454.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 15,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,904,006.90. This trade represents a 3.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.