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

M&T Bank Corp lessened its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 5.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,614 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 615 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in MSCI were worth $6,568,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MSCI. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the first quarter valued at $27,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 293.8% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 122.6% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the first quarter valued at $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on MSCI from $530.00 to $578.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America assumed coverage on MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $651.55.

MSCI Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $15.54 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $565.12. The stock had a trading volume of 635,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 508,166. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.32. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $486.74 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $564.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $569.03.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 145.52% and a net margin of 39.08%. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.31% 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.