Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. Has $2.43 Million Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. lowered its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,048 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 86 shares during the period. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edgewood Management LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 16.9% in the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,279,904,000 after acquiring an additional 318,214 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of MSCI by 14.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $925,531,000 after purchasing an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 358.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,900,000 after buying an additional 104,474 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $56,101,000. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 38.8% during the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 315,887 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $141,991,000 after acquiring an additional 88,239 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group decreased their target price on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI began coverage on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target on the stock. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.67.

MSCI Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $4.39 during trading on Monday, reaching $597.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 356,665 shares, compared to its average volume of 298,052. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $601.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $567.52. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $46.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.45 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.02%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.