FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co Trims Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co cut its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 20.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 408 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 107 shares during the period. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s holdings in MSCI were worth $245,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 30.0% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in MSCI by 30.9% in 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 period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in MSCI by 4.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $312,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,050 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 339.6% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,834 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,642,000 after purchasing an additional 20,730 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 176.2% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their price target 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $579.16 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $44.97 billion, a PE ratio of 41.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $594.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $588.98.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced 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 net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

MSCI Company Profile

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.