Federated Hermes Inc. Grows Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 34.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 119,588 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 30,722 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.15% of MSCI worth $71,754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 2.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after acquiring an additional 37,340 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 9,645 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,621,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 176.2% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $921,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in MSCI by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 28,791 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,806,000 after buying an additional 2,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insigneo Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $360,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 6.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $507.57 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $39.41 billion, a PE ratio of 36.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $572.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $588.66.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $647.31.

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.