Sanctuary Advisors LLC Sells 83 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC cut its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,329 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 83 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 15.0% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 6.8% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,248 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $728,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 15.8% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 945 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $551,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 19,331.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 26,232 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,291,000 after acquiring an additional 26,097 shares during the period. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI in the third quarter worth about $133,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired 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 directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $578.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a PE ratio of 41.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company’s 50 day moving average is $597.17 and its 200 day moving average is $587.09.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

MSCI Company Profile

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.