Hsbc Holdings PLC Acquires 60,533 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• HSBC Holdings PLC increased its stake in MSCI Inc by 26.7%, acquiring an additional 60,533 shares, bringing their total ownership to approximately 287,196 shares valued at $161.75 million.
• MSCI recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $4.17, surpassing expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share.
• The stock has been rated a "Moderate Buy" by analysts, with a consensus target price of $654.73 after several banks adjusted their price objectives for MSCI shares.

Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 26.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 287,196 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 60,533 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.37% of MSCI worth $161,748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in MSCI by 15.4% in the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 142 shares of the technology company's stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 3.8% in the first quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 540 shares of the technology company's stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 5.9% in the first quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 361 shares of the technology company's stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 16.8% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the technology company's stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salvus Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 2.6% in the first quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 824 shares of the technology company's stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $567.7820 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $562.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $560.54. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $486.73 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $43.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%.The business had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.64 earnings per share. MSCI's revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is 47.68%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $548.69 per share, for a total transaction of $46,089.96. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $702,296,314.19. This represents a 0.01% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders acquired a total of 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $654.73.

MSCI Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.

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