SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. Takes Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 2,400 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,406,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 341.7% during the 4th quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 53 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Evercore boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. 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 note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $719.00 to $727.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and ten have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $697.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $252,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,624,640. This trade represents a 1.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total transaction of $5,920,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 23,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,941,357.92. The trade was a 29.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.76% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $625.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.70, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $501.08 and a 12-month high of $627.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $568.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $566.68.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.