E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB Cuts Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB lessened its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 29.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,362 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,390 shares during the quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,929,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 1.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,674,093 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,489,177,000 after acquiring an additional 165,851 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of MSCI by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,320,761 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,884,233,000 after acquiring an additional 39,450 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,394,117 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,358,446,000 after purchasing an additional 223,784 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,777,749 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,008,745,000 after purchasing an additional 109,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,069,180 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $606,674,000 after purchasing an additional 282,859 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $252,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 22,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,624,640. The trade was a 1.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $524.18 per share, for a total transaction of $3,145,080.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $782,625,376.46. This trade represents a 0.40% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore upped their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of MSCI from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $710.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $674.00.

MSCI Trading Down 2.7%

MSCI stock opened at $536.51 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $626.28. The stock has a market cap of $39.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50 day moving average is $564.29 and its 200 day moving average is $564.35.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results 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 company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.18 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were given a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. MSCI’s dividend 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.