OneAscent Financial Services LLC Sells 144 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

OneAscent Financial Services LLC lowered its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 22.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor 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 institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $870,627,000 after buying an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $401,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in MSCI by 2.1% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 9,645 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,621,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 176.2% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 150.4% in the third quarter. Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P. now owns 1,670 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $973,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $647.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $507.57 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $572.46 and a 200-day moving average of $588.18. The stock has a market cap 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 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

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 net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

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.