Insider Buying: MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) CEO Acquires 800 Shares of Stock

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) CEO Henry Fernandez bought 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $518.95 per share, for a total transaction of $415,160.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,231,900.65. This trade represents a 0.05% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

MSCI Stock Down 0.9%

NYSE:MSCI traded down $4.55 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $521.51. The stock had a trading volume of 790,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 669,084. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $572.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $565.74. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $486.73 and a 12-month high of $626.28. The stock has a market cap of $38.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $819.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.18 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.26%.

MSCI declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, October 28th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in MSCI by 1.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,674,093 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,489,177,000 after acquiring an additional 165,851 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in MSCI by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,320,761 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,884,233,000 after purchasing an additional 39,450 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in MSCI by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,467,556 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,415,713,000 after purchasing an additional 52,242 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its position 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. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993,524 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,146,298,000 after buying an additional 34,335 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $690.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $715.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings cut MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $671.78.

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.