Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. Cuts Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. lowered its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 24.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,778 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 915 shares during the quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,777,749 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,008,745,000 after purchasing an additional 109,287 shares during the last quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 103.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 14,958 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,490,000 after purchasing an additional 7,613 shares during the last quarter. Katamaran Capital LLP boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 57.1% during the 3rd quarter. Katamaran Capital LLP now owns 4,919 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,791,000 after purchasing an additional 1,788 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 37.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 12,228 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,938,000 after purchasing an additional 3,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,996 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $20,992,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on MSCI from $545.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $730.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $715.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Evercore boosted their target price on MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $692.70.

MSCI Trading Down 1.1%

MSCI stock opened at $591.54 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $501.08 and a twelve month high of $626.28. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $558.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $563.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.17. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 40.74%.The business had revenue of $850.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $830.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.83%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $518.95 per share, with a total value of $415,160.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,493,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,231,900.65. This represents a 0.05% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total value of $5,920,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 23,548 shares in the company, valued at $13,941,357.92. This trade represents a 29.81% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.76% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Company 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.