Atria Investments Inc Reduces Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Atria Investments Inc lessened its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor 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.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,227,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 0.9 %

MSCI stock opened at $572.61 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $591.88 and a 200-day moving average of $589.97. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $44.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.73, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

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.