Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Acquires 3,235 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 69,095 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,235 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned approximately 0.09% of MSCI worth $41,458,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,991,000 after purchasing an additional 41,346 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 176.2% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Nvwm LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% in the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after buying an additional 1,719 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 76.3% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,295 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

MSCI Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:MSCI opened at $569.35 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $580.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $588.71. The stock has a market cap of $44.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.49, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

About MSCI

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.