Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires 146,633 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 297.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 195,974 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 146,633 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.26% of MSCI worth $112,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 100.0% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 68 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial raised shares of MSCI from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $710.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Evercore raised their target price on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $674.00.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $551.36 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $626.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.14, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $565.31 and a 200-day moving average of $564.49.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.26%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

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

MSCI Company 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.