MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co.

Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. cut its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,048 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 86 shares during the quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSCI. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in MSCI by 30.0% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its position in MSCI by 52.4% during the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,779 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in MSCI by 29.6% in the second quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 21,384 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,302,000 after purchasing an additional 4,890 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in MSCI by 339.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,834 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,642,000 after purchasing an additional 20,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $312,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.67.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI traded down $4.39 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $597.09. 356,665 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 298,052. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $601.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $567.52. The company has a market cap of $46.79 billion, a PE ratio of 39.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MSCI 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.