TD Asset Management Inc Boosts Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 155,532 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 12,222 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc owned approximately 0.21% of MSCI worth $89,233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 7.6% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,003 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,133,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in MSCI by 39.0% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 6,585 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,724,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 20.9% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $607,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in MSCI by 1.0% in the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 35,130 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,261,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares during the period. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter valued at $88,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $252,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 22,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,624,640. The trade was a 1.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total value of $5,920,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 23,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,941,357.92. This trade represents a 29.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 3.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MSCI. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MSCI from $719.00 to $727.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $730.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $655.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on MSCI in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and ten have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $697.70.

MSCI Stock Up 1.1%

NYSE:MSCI opened at $620.52 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.17 billion, a PE ratio of 35.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.24. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $501.08 and a 52-week high of $644.68. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $576.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $568.51.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $850.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $830.91 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 40.74%.The business’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.00 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 46.83%.

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.