Unified Investment Management Makes New $635,000 Investment in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Unified Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,119 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $635,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in MSCI by 16.0% in the second quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Gries Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $868,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 1,793 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,034,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,599,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 268 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $155,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total value of $348,454.08. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 15,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,904,006.90. This trade represents a 3.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction of $247,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,901,450. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI Trading Up 0.9%

MSCI stock opened at $586.58 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $44.08 billion, a PE ratio of 37.17 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $634.99. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $566.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $564.42.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.37 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $793.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.87 million. MSCI had a net margin of 40.03% and a negative return on equity of 110.94%. The business’s revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.86 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $690.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $647.63.

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.