DAVENPORT & Co LLC Trims Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

DAVENPORT & Co LLC reduced its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 16.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,593 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,080 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Aviso Financial Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 859 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $487,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Keel Point LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 3.0% in the third quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 622 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its position in MSCI by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 509 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 3,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,872,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $518.95 per share, for a total transaction of $415,160.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,231,900.65. This represents a 0.05% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $252,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,624,640. The trade was a 1.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $522.56 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $486.73 and a one year high of $626.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.31, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $560.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $563.56.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.04. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 82.59% and a net margin of 38.36%.The firm had revenue of $822.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $819.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.18 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 52.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Weiss Ratings lowered MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $715.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $710.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $655.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $674.00.

MSCI Company Profile

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.