Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Decreases Stake in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. reduced its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 862,127 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 12,755 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 1.15% of MSCI worth $487,317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 6.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,777,749 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,008,745,000 after purchasing an additional 109,287 shares during the period. Dash Acquisitions Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 103.6% during the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 14,958 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $8,490,000 after purchasing an additional 7,613 shares during the period. Katamaran Capital LLP raised its position in MSCI by 57.1% during the third quarter. Katamaran Capital LLP now owns 4,919 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,791,000 after purchasing an additional 1,788 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in MSCI by 37.7% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 12,228 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,938,000 after purchasing an additional 3,346 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 10.5% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,996 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $20,992,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $252,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 22,544 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,624,640. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total value of $5,920,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 23,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,941,357.92. This trade represents a 29.81% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSCI. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore upped their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $730.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $655.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on MSCI from $545.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $692.70.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $580.78 on Wednesday. The business's 50 day moving average price is $559.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $563.73. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $501.08 and a fifty-two week high of $626.28. The company has a market cap of $42.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.17, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is 46.83%.

MSCI Company 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.

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