Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Sells 6,555 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC reduced its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 153,690 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,555 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned about 0.20% of MSCI worth $92,216,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSCI. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 23.5% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 941 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional bought a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Creative Planning boosted its stake in MSCI by 15.6% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,090 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,465,000 after acquiring an additional 1,499 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 50.6% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 953 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $555,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in MSCI by 6.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 17,538 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,107 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $572.02 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $603.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $586.15. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.83 billion, a PE ratio of 40.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 45.52%.

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.