Legal & General Group Plc Purchases 51,901 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 632,026 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,901 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in MSCI were worth $358,618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. 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 MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 68 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank bought a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $50,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 6,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $524.18 per share, for a total transaction of $3,145,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $782,625,376.46. This trade represents a 0.40% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $546.83 on Thursday. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $626.28. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $569.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $565.23. The firm has a market cap of $40.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.85, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted 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. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 82.59% and a net margin of 38.36%.The company had revenue of $822.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $819.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.18 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect 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 issued a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. This is a boost 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSCI. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $690.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Monday, January 12th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $671.78.

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.