MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Acquired by Meritage Group LP

Meritage Group LP lifted its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 33.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 415,308 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 103,993 shares during the quarter. MSCI makes up 6.7% of Meritage Group LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Meritage Group LP’s holdings in MSCI were worth $235,650,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 100.0% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 68 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price target for the company. UBS Group set a $638.00 price objective on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Evercore increased their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $671.78.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $9.96 during trading on Friday, hitting $546.31. 79,279 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 649,946. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $568.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $565.04. The stock has a market cap of $40.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.29. 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $822.53 million for 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%.MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.18 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.26%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $524.18 per share, with a total value of $3,145,080.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,493,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $782,625,376.46. This trade represents a 0.40% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.