Neuberger Berman Group LLC Sells 3,462 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Neuberger Berman trimmed its stake in MSCI by 1.0%, selling 3,462 shares and leaving it with 332,634 shares valued at about $188.74 million (0.44% of MSCI) at quarter-end.
• MSCI beat estimates with $4.66 EPS and $822.5M revenue (up 10.6% YoY) for the quarter, and raised its quarterly dividend to $2.05 (annualized $8.20, ~1.4% yield).
• Wall Street is broadly positive—nine Buy vs two Hold ratings with an average price target of $671.78—while insiders showed mixed activity (CEO bought 6,000 shares, CFO sold 450) and institutional ownership is about 90%.

Neuberger Berman Group LLC reduced its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 332,634 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 3,462 shares during the quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC owned 0.44% of MSCI worth $188,740,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Aviso Financial Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 2.0% in the third quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 859 shares of the technology company's stock worth $487,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of MSCI by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,599,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 509 shares of the technology company's stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 3,300 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,872,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $569.33 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $571.28 and a 200 day moving average of $565.62. The stock has a market cap of $41.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.29. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month 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 negative return on equity of 82.59% and a net margin of 38.36%.The business had revenue of $822.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $819.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.18 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This is an increase from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group set a $638.00 price objective on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Bank of America initiated coverage on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $700.00 target price on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $715.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore increased their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded MSCI from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $671.78.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction of $247,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,639 shares in the company, valued at $11,901,450. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $524.18 per share, for a total transaction of $3,145,080.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,047 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $782,625,376.46. This trade represents a 0.40% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.31% 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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