Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Has $13.90 Million Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lowered its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,125 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 981 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $13,900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,777,749 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,008,745,000 after purchasing an additional 109,287 shares in the last quarter. Katamaran Capital LLP increased its position in MSCI by 57.1% in the 3rd quarter. Katamaran Capital LLP now owns 4,919 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,791,000 after acquiring an additional 1,788 shares in the last quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 103.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 14,958 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,490,000 after acquiring an additional 7,613 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in MSCI by 37.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 12,228 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,938,000 after acquiring an additional 3,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,996 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,992,000 after acquiring an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of MSCI 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 transaction, the insider owned 23,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,941,357.92. This trade represents a 29.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $252,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,544 shares in the company, valued at $12,624,640. The trade was a 1.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore raised their price objective on shares of 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 restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $730.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $715.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $692.70.

MSCI Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $583.07 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.45 billion, a PE ratio of 33.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.24. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $501.08 and a 1 year high of $626.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $562.77 and its 200-day moving average is $565.96.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $850.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $830.91 million. MSCI had a net margin of 40.74% and a negative return on equity of 65.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.00 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $2.05 per share. 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 (DPR) is presently 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.