Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. Raises Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,134 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the period. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,410,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 74.9% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $701,522,000 after acquiring an additional 623,712 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 129.4% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,153,000 after purchasing an additional 412,389 shares in the last quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP acquired a new position in MSCI in the 1st quarter worth about $114,836,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the second quarter worth approximately $91,748,000. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in MSCI in the first quarter valued at approximately $75,957,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $588.31 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $559.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $523.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The firm had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of MSCI to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $598.07.

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.