Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Sells 101 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC reduced its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 517 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 101 shares during the quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in MSCI by 25.4% during the second quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 147,833 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $85,261,000 after buying an additional 29,990 shares in the last quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,568,000. Generali Investments Management Co LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Westpac Banking Corp increased its stake in MSCI by 1,628.8% in the second quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 9,595 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,534,000 after acquiring an additional 9,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in MSCI by 51.8% during the second quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 730 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $421,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSCI. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $655.90.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $559.73 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $42.06 billion, a PE ratio of 35.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $563.81 and its 200-day moving average is $563.29. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.37 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $793.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $794.87 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 110.94% and a net margin of 40.03%.MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.86 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 45.63%.

MSCI announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.