Keybank National Association OH Sells 37 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Keybank National Association OH trimmed its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,934 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 37 shares during the quarter. Keybank National Association OH’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,160,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 497,926 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $298,761,000 after acquiring an additional 13,915 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 7,630 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,578,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,219 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $710,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in MSCI by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 4,785 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,871,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LGT Group Foundation raised its holdings in MSCI by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 9,459 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,675,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $562.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $43.64 billion, a PE ratio of 39.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a fifty day moving average of $590.02 and a 200 day moving average of $589.82. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

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.