Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd Boosts Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd grew its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 166.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,583 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,108 shares during the period. MSCI comprises about 6.8% of Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd’s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter worth $547,348,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 499.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 874,882 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $496,417,000 after acquiring an additional 728,900 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in MSCI by 91.8% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 691,554 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $392,395,000 after acquiring an additional 331,040 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter worth about $175,912,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in MSCI by 36.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,069,180 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $606,674,000 after purchasing an additional 282,859 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $690.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $671.78.

MSCI Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of MSCI opened at $572.64 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $42.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $571.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $565.53. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $626.28.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.04. The firm 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 company’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.18 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the firm’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 owned 21,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,901,450. This trade represents a 2.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 10,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $536.13 per share, with a total value of $5,473,887.30. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,487,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $797,250,508.11. 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 have acquired a total of 19,300 shares of company stock worth $10,261,957 in the last 90 days. Company 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.