Korea Investment CORP Decreases Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Korea Investment CORP lessened its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 7.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 40,770 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,300 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned approximately 0.05% of MSCI worth $23,055,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 136.4% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its position in MSCI by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 293.8% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $654.73.

MSCI Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $574.1090 on Thursday. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $562.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $560.63.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%.The business had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $763.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 47.68%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 9,916 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $544.70 per share, with a total value of $5,401,245.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $697,143,554.90. The trade was a 0.78% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.