MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Atria Investments Inc

Atria Investments Inc lessened its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,677 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 581 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in MSCI were worth $10,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Edgewood Management LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,279,904,000 after purchasing an additional 318,214 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth about $126,082,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in MSCI by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $925,531,000 after purchasing an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP raised its holdings in MSCI by 700.4% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 186,131 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $111,680,000 after purchasing an additional 162,877 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth about $82,722,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI opened at $572.61 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.46 billion, a PE ratio of 40.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $591.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $589.97.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.