MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Bought by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 9.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,937 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,117 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $6,983,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSCI. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,062,626,000. Bamco Inc. NY bought a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,798,710,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $480,613,000. Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter worth approximately $301,493,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter worth approximately $257,687,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on MSCI from $685.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Barclays upped their target price on MSCI from $735.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. William Blair set a $680.00 target price on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. UBS Group set a $615.00 price target on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $680.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $683.69.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 2,381 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $623.66, for a total transaction of $1,484,934.46. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 14,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,796,100.64. This trade represents a 14.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 that occurred on Monday, October 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.00, for a total transaction of $256,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,337,080. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 3.76% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $658.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $574.11 and a 200-day moving average of $574.69. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $501.08 and a 52-week high of $681.04. The stock has a market cap of $47.05 billion, a PE ratio of 34.83, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.20.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The technology company reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $887.83 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.47 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

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.