M&T Bank Corp Reduces Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

M&T Bank Corp trimmed its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,229 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 468 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in MSCI were worth $7,337,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $565.84 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $590.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $589.81. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.24, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays reduced their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate 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.