Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Buys 120 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 26.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 569 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $341,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $544.63 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $42.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.74, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $588.92 and a 200-day moving average of $590.06.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is an increase 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 dividend yield of 1.32%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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