Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Takes Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 24,403 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,683,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in MSCI by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 223,940 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $134,366,000 after purchasing an additional 5,914 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 955 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $573,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $409,000. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 90.6% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 728 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $437,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the period. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment lifted its position in MSCI by 65.3% during the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 4,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,525,000 after acquiring an additional 1,663 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $647.31.

MSCI Trading Down 6.7 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $507.57 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $572.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $588.66.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Company 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.