Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. Trims Stake in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. reduced its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,691 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 32 shares during the quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,129,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in MSCI by 5.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,302,610,000 after buying an additional 518,833 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 355.7% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 660,690 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $365,976,000 after purchasing an additional 515,713 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 61,179.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $285,892,000 after purchasing an additional 504,732 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of MSCI by 3,881.3% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $251,662,000 after purchasing an additional 408,894 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its position in shares of MSCI by 605,802.9% in the first quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 212,066 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $129,903,000 after purchasing an additional 212,031 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $652.45.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,296,314.19. The trade was a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $582.77 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.59, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day moving average is $563.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $559.15. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. MSCI’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.64 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 47.68%.

MSCI Company 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.