Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Purchases 1,117 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,937 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,117 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $6,983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV lifted its stake in MSCI by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 3,179 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,714,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd boosted its position in MSCI by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd now owns 1,907 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,028,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 489 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 244 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 511 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $275,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Down 2.4%

NYSE MSCI opened at $658.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $574.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $574.69. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $501.08 and a 1 year high of $681.04.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 20th. The technology company reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $892.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $887.83 million. MSCI had a net margin of 40.31% and a negative return on equity of 50.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.47 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $715.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $685.00 to $720.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $670.00 to $680.00 in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $671.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $683.69.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.00, for a total value of $256,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,644 shares in the company, valued at $12,337,080. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 value of $1,484,934.46. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 14,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,796,100.64. The trade was a 14.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.76% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Profile

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.