MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by OneAscent Financial Services LLC

OneAscent Financial Services LLC lowered its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 22.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 499 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 144 shares during the quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $299,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in MSCI by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,860,925,000 after acquiring an additional 11,351 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in MSCI by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,136,563,000 after buying an additional 35,094 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $967,820,000 after buying an additional 119,471 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $689,180,000 after buying an additional 49,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $609,937,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Down 6.7 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $507.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $572.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $588.18.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $647.31.

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.