Blue Trust Inc. Has $131,000 Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Blue Trust Inc. reduced its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 74.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 219 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 628 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $131,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LRI Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $578.71 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $597.17 and its 200-day moving average is $587.09. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 period last year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays cut their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.