Fisher Funds Management LTD Purchases 35,080 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Fisher Funds raised its stake in MSCI by 44.6% in Q4, buying 35,080 shares to hold 113,733 shares (about $65.65M), which is roughly 1.7% of Fisher's portfolio and ~0.15% of MSCI.
• Analysts rate MSCI a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $665.89, while notable moves include Evercore raising its target to $690 and Wells Fargo cutting its target to $545.
• Insider activity shows CEO Henry Fernandez purchased 6,000 shares at $524.18 and CFO Andrew Wiechmann sold 450 shares at $560, with insiders owning about 3.76% of the company.

Fisher Funds Management LTD raised its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 44.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 113,733 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 35,080 shares during the period. MSCI makes up approximately 1.7% of Fisher Funds Management LTD's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Fisher Funds Management LTD owned about 0.15% of MSCI worth $65,646,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the business'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 transaction of $252,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,544 shares in the company, valued at $12,624,640. The trade was a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $524.18 per share, with a total value of $3,145,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,047 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $782,625,376.46. This represents a 0.40% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $618.00 to $545.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of MSCI from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $655.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. One 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 MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $665.89.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $564.38 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $501.08 and a one year high of $626.28. The company has a market cap of $41.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $547.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $561.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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 business earned $4.18 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect 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 was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were given a dividend of $2.05 per share. This is an increase from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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