Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 127,271 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Russell Investments Group Ltd. cut its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 33.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 251,825 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 127,271 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $144,483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 341.7% during the fourth quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 53 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total value of $5,920,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 23,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,941,357.92. The trade was a 29.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $719.00 to $727.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $730.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $655.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of MSCI from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $650.00 to $700.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and ten have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $697.70.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $608.22 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $501.08 and a fifty-two week high of $644.68. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $587.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $571.12. The company has a market cap of $44.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.74, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.24.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $850.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $830.91 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 40.74%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.00 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.83%.

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.