2Xideas AG Sells 2,467 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

2Xideas AG lessened its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,428 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,467 shares during the quarter. MSCI makes up about 1.4% of 2Xideas AG’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. 2Xideas AG’s holdings in MSCI were worth $6,484,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MSCI in the second quarter valued at $547,348,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 499.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 874,882 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $496,417,000 after acquiring an additional 728,900 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 91.8% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 691,554 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $392,395,000 after acquiring an additional 331,040 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of MSCI by 36.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,069,180 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $606,674,000 after acquiring an additional 282,859 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Pictet & Cie SA purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $145,986,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $518.95 per share, with a total value of $415,160.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,231,900.65. This trade represents a 0.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group set a $638.00 target price on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $671.78.

MSCI Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $547.34 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $626.28. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $568.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $564.85. The stock has a market cap of $40.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.88, a PEG ratio of 2.19 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 the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $822.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $819.51 million. MSCI had a net margin of 38.36% and a negative return on equity of 82.59%. MSCI’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.18 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 52.26%.

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.