Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Lowers Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lessened its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,185 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 96 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,236,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 509 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $111,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,795 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,015,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 165 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marks Group Wealth Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 17,792 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,064,000 after acquiring an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,052,254.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic lowered MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays decreased their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America raised MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $425.00 to $525.00 in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group reduced their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $569.53.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $469.74 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $536.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $536.91. The company has a market capitalization of $37.21 billion, a PE ratio of 32.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.14 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

About MSCI

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.