APG Asset Management N.V. Sells 20,162 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

APG Asset Management N.V. lessened its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 26.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 54,793 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 20,162 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. owned approximately 0.07% of MSCI worth $31,090,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Aviso Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.0% in the third quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 859 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $487,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.0% in the second quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,599,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 509 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $289,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 0.6% during the third quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 3,300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,872,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings raised MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $690.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Evercore raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $655.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $671.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was 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 approximately $11,901,450. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 800 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $518.95 per share, for a total transaction of $415,160.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,231,900.65. This trade represents a 0.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders acquired 19,300 shares of company stock valued at $10,261,957. 3.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $570.93 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $572.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $565.37. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $486.73 and a one year high of $626.28. The company has a market capitalization of $41.95 billion, a PE ratio of 36.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.04. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 82.59% and a net margin of 38.36%.The business had revenue of $822.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $819.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.18 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 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.