MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Stock Holdings Cut by CNB Bank

CNB Bank lessened its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 848 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 49 shares during the period. CNB Bank’s holdings in MSCI were worth $509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth $3,308,000. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 2,175 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $278,000. Salvus Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 803 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its holdings in MSCI by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 659 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSCI. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group dropped their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.67.

MSCI Stock Up 0.1 %

MSCI opened at $610.79 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $602.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $572.89.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The company had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.45 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 42.02%.

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.