CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Lowers Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co reduced its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 48,916 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,622 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in MSCI were worth $29,336,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 134,850 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $80,911,000 after buying an additional 38,610 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in MSCI by 42.5% during the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 86,288 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $51,774,000 after acquiring an additional 25,741 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,850 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,110,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 83.0% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 15,328 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,197,000 after acquiring an additional 6,952 shares during the period. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 1,861 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,117,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $546.73 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $558.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $585.69. The stock has a market cap of $42.45 billion, a PE ratio of 38.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $643.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at $154,542,084.75. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.