Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Lowers Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 8.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 157,249 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 14,212 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.22% of MSCI worth $84,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in MSCI by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,320,761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,884,233,000 after buying an additional 39,450 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY grew its holdings in MSCI by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,755,747 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,581,055,000 after buying an additional 361,630 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,467,556 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,415,713,000 after acquiring an additional 52,242 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,446,291 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $829,781,000 after purchasing an additional 168,405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,000,942 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $574,270,000 after buying an additional 39,099 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.76% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:MSCI traded up $0.08 on Friday, reaching $603.43. The company had a trading volume of 267,745 shares, compared to its average volume of 683,532. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.93 billion, a PE ratio of 34.46, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $593.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $575.41. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $501.08 and a 52-week high of $644.68.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $850.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $830.91 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 40.74%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.00 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 19.74 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $719.00 to $727.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on MSCI from $715.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and ten have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $709.27.

MSCI 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.