Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Purchases 2,295 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 253.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,202 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,295 shares during the period. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,817,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,508,242 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,483,783,000 after buying an additional 131,390 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in MSCI by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,281,311 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,892,463,000 after acquiring an additional 45,547 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY grew its position in MSCI by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,170,333 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,251,718,000 after acquiring an additional 98,680 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993,524 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,146,298,000 after purchasing an additional 34,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,777,749 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,008,745,000 after purchasing an additional 109,287 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total value of $247,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,639 shares in the company, valued at $11,901,450. This trade represents a 2.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 10,210 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $536.13 per share, for a total transaction of $5,473,887.30. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,487,047 shares in the company, valued at $797,250,508.11. The trade was a 0.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on MSCI. Weiss Ratings upgraded MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $690.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $659.00.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $556.97 on Monday. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $486.73 and a fifty-two week high of $626.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $575.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $566.86.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $822.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $819.51 million. MSCI had a net margin of 38.36% and a negative return on equity of 82.59%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.18 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued a $2.05 dividend. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.26%.

About MSCI

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.