North Dakota State Investment Board Purchases New Stake in MSCI Inc $MSCI

North Dakota State Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,577 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,479,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,183 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,842,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the period. May Hill Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $241,000. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan raised its position in shares of MSCI by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 1,928 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the period. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS raised its position in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 15,039 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,628,000 after buying an additional 642 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $252,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,624,640. This trade represents a 1.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total transaction of $5,920,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 23,548 shares in the company, valued at $13,941,357.92. The trade was a 29.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $730.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $715.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $692.70.

MSCI Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $578.89 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $501.08 and a 52 week high of $626.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.14 billion, a PE ratio of 33.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $562.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $565.96.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.17. MSCI had a net margin of 40.74% and a negative return on equity of 65.48%. The company had revenue of $850.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $830.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $2.05 dividend. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.83%.

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.