Insider Selling: MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) CFO Sells $256,500.00 in Stock

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) CFO Andrew Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.00, for a total transaction of $256,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,337,080. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MSCI Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE MSCI traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $561.01. 548,631 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 632,052. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.79 billion, a PE ratio of 30.69, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day moving average of $558.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $574.85. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $501.08 and a 12 month high of $644.77.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $4.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.99 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $867.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $870.71 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 55.19% and a net margin of 40.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.17 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.86%.

Key MSCI News

Here are the key news stories impacting MSCI this week:

• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan maintained an “overweight” rating on MSCI while lowering its price target from $700 to $685. The revised target still implies approximately 22% upside, suggesting the bank views recent weakness as a buying opportunity. JPMorgan MSCI price target report
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley also retained an “overweight” rating but reduced its target from $700 to $662, implying roughly 18% upside. The continued positive rating supports the view that MSCI’s recurring revenue and index, analytics and data businesses remain attractive despite valuation concerns. Morgan Stanley MSCI price target report
• Neutral Sentiment: MSCI’s upcoming earnings report is attracting attention. Preview coverage points to expected earnings growth and potential for a quarterly beat, but investors will focus on whether revenue and earnings can exceed expectations after the company’s previous quarter slightly missed consensus estimates. MSCI earnings expectations
• Neutral Sentiment: Several fund letters cited the MSCI World Index as a benchmark, including reports showing both outperformance and underperformance. These references describe index performance rather than new developments at MSCI Inc., so their direct effect on the stock is limited.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts’ target reductions from both JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley signal increasing caution about MSCI’s valuation or near-term growth, even though both firms remain bullish. Broader volatility in Asian and technology stocks could also pressure market-data and financial-information shares.
• Neutral Sentiment: A report about Strategy’s Michael Saylor concerns the possibility of Strategy being removed from an MSCI index; it does not indicate a change to MSCI Inc.’s own business or index methodology. Strategy MSCI index removal report

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $662.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $685.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America lifted their target price on MSCI from $715.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on MSCI from $690.00 to $685.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on MSCI in a research report on Friday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $760.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have issued a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $701.17.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.7% in the first quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 3,179 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,714,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. City National Bank of Florida MSD raised its stake in MSCI by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. City National Bank of Florida MSD now owns 514 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd boosted its holdings in MSCI by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd now owns 1,907 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 489 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. grew its position in MSCI by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. now owns 3,945 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,126,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision-support tools and services for institutional investors, asset managers, banks, wealth managers and other financial professionals. The company is best known for its equity, fixed-income and multi-asset-class indexes, which are used as benchmarks and as the basis for investment products such as exchange-traded funds and other index-linked strategies.

In addition to indexes, MSCI provides portfolio analytics, risk-management and performance-measurement tools designed to help clients evaluate exposures, construct portfolios and manage investment risks.