First Hawaiian Bank Decreases Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

First Hawaiian Bank reduced its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 53.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,398 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,625 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in MSCI were worth $673,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of MSCI by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 239,933 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $134,475,000 after acquiring an additional 21,310 shares in the last quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 13,720 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,761,000 after acquiring an additional 2,135 shares in the last quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth about $959,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth about $904,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 819,422 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $463,506,000 after acquiring an additional 57,342 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $22.33 on Monday, reaching $517.52. 581,545 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 586,720. The stock has a market cap of $41.00 billion, a PE ratio of 36.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.10. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $617.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $499.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $524.26.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.26 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America raised MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, May 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.21.

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.