MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 21.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,347,039 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 370,325 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $726,089,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 341.7% during the 4th quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 53 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, SHP Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded MSCI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded MSCI from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $650.00 to $700.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and ten have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $709.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total value of $5,920,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 23,548 shares in the company, valued at $13,941,357.92. This represents a 29.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.76% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 2.5%

MSCI stock opened at $619.84 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $45.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.24. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $501.08 and a 12-month high of $644.68. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $593.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $575.68.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.17. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 40.74%.The company had revenue of $850.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $830.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.00 EPS. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 19.78 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 46.83%.

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.