Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases Shares of 24,403 MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 24,403 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,683,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,136,563,000 after buying an additional 35,094 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $967,820,000 after acquiring an additional 119,471 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $689,180,000 after acquiring an additional 49,679 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $609,937,000. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 569,374 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $341,630,000 after purchasing an additional 84,354 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays lowered their target price on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $647.31.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Stock Down 6.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $507.57 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $572.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $588.66. The company has a market cap of $39.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.