Baillie Gifford & Co. Has $485.86 Million Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in MSCI by 22.5% in Q4 to 846,844 shares, valued at about $485.86 million (roughly 1.13% of the company).
• Insider activity shows CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 800 shares (raising his stake to ~1.49M shares) while the CFO sold 450 shares; corporate insiders now own about 3.76% of MSCI.
• MSCI raised its quarterly dividend to $2.05 (annualized $8.20, yield ~1.5%, DPR 52.26%), and analysts hold a consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $665.89.

Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 22.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 846,844 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 155,290 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned 1.13% of MSCI worth $485,860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the second quarter worth $36,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 100.0% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 68 shares of the technology company's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 800 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $518.95 per share, with a total value of $415,160.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,493,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,231,900.65. The trade was a 0.05% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $252,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,544 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,624,640. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MSCI. Weiss Ratings downgraded MSCI from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Raymond James Financial upgraded MSCI from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $710.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. UBS Group set a $638.00 target price on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $655.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Evercore lifted their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $665.89.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $537.58 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $39.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.30. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $549.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $561.54. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $501.08 and a fifty-two week high of $626.28.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted 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 the consensus estimate of $819.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.18 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. This is a boost from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.26%.

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.

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