Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Sells 96 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. decreased its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,185 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 96 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bamco Inc. NY raised its holdings in MSCI by 0.7% in the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,260,105 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,159,615,000 after purchasing an additional 15,184 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,893,728 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $971,634,000 after acquiring an additional 30,528 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 14.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $749,422,000 after acquiring an additional 179,508 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 32.5% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 959,894 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $492,502,000 after acquiring an additional 235,290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 767,297 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $393,686,000 after acquiring an additional 7,183 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America upgraded MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $569.53.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at $152,579,015.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at $6,052,254.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $469.74 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.06, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $536.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $536.91. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

MSCI 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.