17,970 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI Bought by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 17,970 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,680,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,062,626,000. Bamco Inc. NY purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,798,710,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $480,613,000. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $301,493,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth approximately $257,687,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 2,381 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $623.66, for a total transaction of $1,484,934.46. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 14,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,796,100.64. The trade was a 14.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.00, for a total value of $256,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,337,080. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 3.76% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 5.4%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $674.44 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $48.22 billion, a PE ratio of 35.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $572.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $574.41. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $501.08 and a twelve month high of $677.62.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The technology company reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.08. MSCI had a net margin of 40.31% and a negative return on equity of 50.69%. The business had revenue of $892.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $887.83 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.47 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be given a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $550.00 in a report on Monday, October 19th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $715.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $685.00 to $720.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $683.69.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) is a global provider of investment decision-support tools and services for institutional investors, asset managers, banks and other financial institutions. The company is best known for developing equity, fixed-income and multi-asset indexes used to benchmark portfolios and support the creation of investment products such as exchange-traded funds.

In addition to its indexes, MSCI provides portfolio analytics, risk-management and performance-attribution tools, as well as research and data covering environmental, social and governance factors, climate risk and sustainable investing.