Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $382,000 Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its stake in MSCI by 99.3%, selling 92,604 shares and leaving just 666 shares valued at about $382,000.
• Several large institutions (Mitsubishi UFJ, Baillie Gifford, JPMorgan, Banque Pictet, Bamco) materially increased their MSCI holdings and institutional ownership remains near 89.97%, signaling broad investor interest despite MFS's sale.
• MSCI recently beat quarterly EPS estimates with revenue up 10.6%, raised its quarterly dividend to $2.05 (annualized $8.20, ~1.4% yield), and trades with an analyst consensus of "Moderate Buy" and a $665.89 average price target.

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 99.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 666 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 92,604 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA's holdings in MSCI were worth $382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 499.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 874,882 shares of the technology company's stock worth $496,417,000 after purchasing an additional 728,900 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 91.8% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 691,554 shares of the technology company's stock worth $392,395,000 after purchasing an additional 331,040 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 36.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,069,180 shares of the technology company's stock worth $606,674,000 after purchasing an additional 282,859 shares in the last quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 103.3% during the 4th quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 523,035 shares of the technology company's stock worth $300,081,000 after purchasing an additional 265,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,394,117 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,358,446,000 after purchasing an additional 223,784 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $700.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on MSCI from $618.00 to $545.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $715.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $710.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $665.89.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $567.93 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $547.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $561.29. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $501.08 and a one year high of $626.28. The firm has a market cap of $41.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.04. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 82.59% and a net margin of 38.36%.The firm had revenue of $822.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $819.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.18 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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 issued a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. This is a positive change from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 52.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $524.18 per share, with a total value of $3,145,080.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,493,047 shares in the company, valued at $782,625,376.46. This represents a 0.40% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $12,624,640. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 3.76% of the company's stock.

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.

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