Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 404.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 15,682 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 12,576 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in MSCI were worth $8,453,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,320,761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,884,233,000 after purchasing an additional 39,450 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,755,747 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,581,055,000 after purchasing an additional 361,630 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,467,556 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,415,713,000 after buying an additional 52,242 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,446,291 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $829,781,000 after buying an additional 168,405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in MSCI by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,000,942 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $574,270,000 after buying an additional 39,099 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $621.92 on Thursday. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $501.08 and a 1-year high of $644.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $595.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $576.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.28 billion, a PE ratio of 35.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $850.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $830.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.00 EPS. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 19.84 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.83%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 23,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,941,357.92. This trade represents a 29.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised MSCI from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $650.00 to $700.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Barclays raised their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on MSCI from $730.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Bank of America increased their target price on MSCI from $715.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MSCI from $719.00 to $727.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and ten have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $709.27.

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.