Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 8,500 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. cut its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 19.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,461 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 8,500 shares during the quarter. MSCI comprises about 0.7% of Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $19,554,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Corp bought a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $8,431,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. MGO One Seven LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $221,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its position in MSCI by 4.5% during the third quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 33,729 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $18,172,000 after acquiring an additional 1,449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tema Etfs LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 57.6% during the third quarter. Tema Etfs LLC now owns 4,920 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,792,000 after acquiring an additional 1,798 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Evercore ISI upped their price target on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $642.63.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI opened at $581.11 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $565.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $564.28. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $486.73 and a 1 year high of $634.99. The stock has a market cap of $43.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.83 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $793.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.87 million. MSCI had a net margin of 40.03% and a negative return on equity of 110.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.86 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.63%.

MSCI announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total transaction of $348,454.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 15,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,904,006.90. This represents a 3.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction of $247,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,639 shares in the company, valued at $11,901,450. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI 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.