Cumberland Partners Ltd Boosts Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Cumberland Partners Ltd lifted its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 92.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,750 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,250 shares during the quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 499.3% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 874,882 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $496,417,000 after purchasing an additional 728,900 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 91.8% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 691,554 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $392,395,000 after purchasing an additional 331,040 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 36.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,069,180 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $606,674,000 after purchasing an additional 282,859 shares in the last quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 103.3% in the fourth quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 523,035 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $300,081,000 after purchasing an additional 265,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY boosted its stake in MSCI by 10.3% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,394,117 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,358,446,000 after buying an additional 223,784 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,624,640. This trade represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 sale, the insider owned 23,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,941,357.92. This trade represents a 29.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $715.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $692.70.

MSCI Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE:MSCI opened at $588.97 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $501.08 and a twelve month high of $626.28. The company has a market cap of $42.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $564.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $566.08.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.83%.

MSCI 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.