M&T Bank Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

M&T Bank Corp cut its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,136 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,344 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in MSCI were worth $14,218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSCI. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $434,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in MSCI by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 218,623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $124,786,000 after purchasing an additional 35,277 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 13,659.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 10,182 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,759,000 after buying an additional 10,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 430,676 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $220,971,000 after buying an additional 12,495 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $0.66 on Friday, reaching $467.04. The stock had a trading volume of 826,479 shares, compared to its average volume of 922,270. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $532.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $536.09. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The company had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.14 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.69%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,579,015.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit acquired 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at $152,579,015.68. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSCI. StockNews.com cut MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $425.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $569.53.

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.