MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Sold by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP cut its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,940 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 8,500 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in MSCI were worth $16,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aviso Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.0% during the third quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 859 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in MSCI by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,599,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its position in MSCI by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 509 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 3,300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,872,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore boosted their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $690.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Monday, January 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $715.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $671.78.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $518.95 per share, with a total value of $415,160.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,493,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,231,900.65. This trade represents a 0.05% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction of $247,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,639 shares in the company, valued at $11,901,450. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $549.87 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $486.73 and a 1 year high of $626.28. The firm has a market cap of $40.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $570.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $565.36.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $822.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $819.51 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 82.59% and a net margin of 38.36%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.18 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were given a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.26%.

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.