MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Bought by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 121,729 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 8,632 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.16% of MSCI worth $73,218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,860,925,000 after buying an additional 11,351 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,082,594,000 after acquiring an additional 13,691 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 8.0% in the 4th 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 grew its position in MSCI by 4.5% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 17.4% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy 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 $649.23.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.3 %

MSCI stock traded up $1.67 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $568.97. The company had a trading volume of 111,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 554,928. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $576.88 and a 200 day moving average of $588.99. The stock has a market cap of $44.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.47, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the company posted $3.68 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This is an increase from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI's payout ratio is presently 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.