K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Has $905,000 Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc cut its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 65.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,614 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc’s holdings in MSCI were worth $905,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 21.5% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 175,347 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $99,493,000 after purchasing an additional 30,987 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in MSCI by 137.2% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 10,547 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,984,000 after buying an additional 6,100 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 1,392 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $790,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Waddell & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 31.4% in the third quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 645 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in MSCI by 27.7% in the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 143,310 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $81,316,000 after acquiring an additional 31,096 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSCI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $715.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $671.78.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 10,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $536.13 per share, for a total transaction of $5,473,887.30. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,487,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $797,250,508.11. This represents a 0.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total value of $247,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,901,450. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 19,300 shares of company stock worth $10,261,957. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $572.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $42.06 billion, a PE ratio of 36.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $572.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $565.13. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $626.28.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.04. MSCI had a net margin of 38.36% and a negative return on equity of 82.59%. The company had revenue of $822.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $819.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.18 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be paid a $2.05 dividend. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.26%.

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.