Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Buys 1,119 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 187,388 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of MSCI worth $105,022,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSCI. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. American National Bank increased its position in shares of MSCI by 1,300.0% during the 4th quarter. American National Bank now owns 70 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. First United Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $425.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, May 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $570.53.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $491.19 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.10. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $617.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $485.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $530.20.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.