Sanctuary Advisors LLC Has $2.71 Million Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Sanctuary Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 16.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,720 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 929 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 1.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,674,093 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,489,177,000 after buying an additional 165,851 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in MSCI by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,320,761 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,884,233,000 after buying an additional 39,450 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY raised its position in MSCI by 10.3% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,394,117 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,358,446,000 after buying an additional 223,784 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 6.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,777,749 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,008,745,000 after buying an additional 109,287 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in MSCI by 36.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,069,180 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $606,674,000 after buying an additional 282,859 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $730.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $692.70.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total transaction of $5,920,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 23,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,941,357.92. This represents a 29.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $518.95 per share, with a total value of $415,160.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,847 shares in the company, valued at $775,231,900.65. This represents a 0.05% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $589.11 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $501.08 and a fifty-two week high of $626.28. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $558.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $563.34. The firm has a market cap of $42.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.64, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.24.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.17. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 40.74%.The company had revenue of $850.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $830.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.00 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 46.83%.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.