Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 981 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. decreased its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 24,125 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 981 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $13,900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 18,428 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,573,000 after buying an additional 2,826 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 422.0% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 4,922 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,824,000 after buying an additional 3,979 shares in the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP lifted its stake in MSCI by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 1,401 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $804,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,479,000. Finally, Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSCI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $715.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $730.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Evercore lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $692.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $13,941,357.92. This represents a 29.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $252,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 22,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,624,640. The trade was a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Stock Up 0.9%

NYSE MSCI opened at $583.07 on Thursday. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $501.08 and a 12-month high of $626.28. The company has a market capitalization of $42.45 billion, a PE ratio of 33.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $562.77 and its 200-day moving average is $565.96.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.17. MSCI had a net margin of 40.74% and a negative return on equity of 65.48%. The company had revenue of $850.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $830.91 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.83%.

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.