Whittier Trust Co. Has $271,000 Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Whittier Trust Co. trimmed its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 23.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 451 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 141 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 2.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $870,627,000 after acquiring an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth about $207,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 66.4% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,401 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth about $320,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 31.3% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 17,329 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,102,000 after acquiring an additional 4,133 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $562.98 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $43.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $581.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $588.76.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.