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

Keybank National Association OH lessened its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,934 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 37 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,160,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSCI. LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 120.0% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI opened at $562.01 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $590.02 and its 200 day moving average is $589.82. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.97, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.68 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

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.