Trillium Asset Management LLC Sells 1,724 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Trillium Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,709 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,724 shares during the quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $11,826,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 120.0% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its stake in MSCI by 122.7% during the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on 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 reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

MSCI Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $568.48 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $583.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $588.95. The stock has a market cap of $44.14 billion, a PE ratio of 40.43, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its 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 previous year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Company 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.