MSCI Independent Director Acquires 357% More Stock
MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) shareholders (or potential shareholders) will be happy to see that the Independent Director, Rajat Taneja, recently bought a whopping US$1.0m worth of stock, at a price of US$560. That increased their holding by a full 357%, which arguably implies the sort of confidence required for a shy sweet-natured nerd to ask the most popular kid in the school to go out on a date.
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At MSCI
The Chairman Henry Fernandez made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$6.7m worth of shares at a price of US$542 each. That implies that an insider found the current price of US$573 per share to be enticing. That means they have been optimistic about the company in the past, though they may have changed their mind. If someone buys shares at well below current prices, it's a good sign on balance, but keep in mind they may no longer see value. Happily, the MSCI insiders decided to buy shares at close to current prices.
Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$16m for 28.77k shares. On the other hand they divested 10.62k shares, for US$6.3m. Overall, MSCI insiders were net buyers during the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
Check out our latest analysis for MSCI
There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of undervalued small cap companies that insiders are buying.
Insider Ownership
I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. MSCI insiders own about US$1.5b worth of shares (which is 3.6% of the company). I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders.
So What Do The MSCI Insider Transactions Indicate?
It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. Once you factor in the high insider ownership, it certainly seems like insiders are positive about MSCI. Nice! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. You'd be interested to know, that we found 1 warning sign for MSCI and we suggest you have a look.
If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.
For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.
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