AXQ Capital LP Invests $1.26 Million in MSCI Inc $MSCI

AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 2,188 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,255,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 341.7% during the fourth quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 53 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $643.49 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $501.08 and a 12 month high of $644.68. The stock has a market cap of $46.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $571.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $567.47.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its 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 net margin of 40.74% and a negative return on equity of 65.48%. The business 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 company earned $4.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 46.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of MSCI from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $650.00 to $700.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Bank of America began 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, Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $730.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and ten have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $697.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,624,640. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The stock was 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 directly owned 23,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,941,357.92. This trade represents a 29.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 3.76% of the company’s stock.

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.