Meitav Investment House Ltd. Has $10.41 Million Stake in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Meitav Investment House Ltd. increased its MSCI stake by 318.5% in the first quarter, ending with 19,306 shares worth about $10.4 million.
• MSCI continues to attract heavy institutional interest, with 89.97% of shares owned by institutions and several large funds recently adding or initiating positions.
• Wall Street sentiment remains positive: analysts have a consensus “Buy” rating on MSCI with an average price target of $697, while the stock recently traded near $615.72.

Meitav Investment House Ltd. boosted its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 318.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,306 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 14,693 shares during the period. Meitav Investment House Ltd.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $10,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $528,560,000. Bamco Inc. NY grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,755,747 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,581,055,000 after purchasing an additional 361,630 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 103.3% during the fourth 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 during the period. Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $130,380,000. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in MSCI by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,446,291 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $829,781,000 after purchasing an additional 168,405 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded MSCI from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $650.00 to $700.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $690.00 price target on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and set a $730.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $719.00 to $727.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and ten have given a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $697.00.

MSCI Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $1.68 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $615.72. The company's stock had a trading volume of 102,520 shares, compared to its average volume of 640,664. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $591.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $573.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $501.08 and a fifty-two week high of $644.68.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.17. MSCI had a net margin of 40.74% and a negative return on equity of 65.48%. The business had revenue of $850.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $830.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.00 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.83%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total transaction of $5,920,400.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 23,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,941,357.92. This represents a 29.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.76% of the company's stock.

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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