Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA Sells 403 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA cut its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 34,473 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 403 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA’s holdings in MSCI were worth $20,636,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSCI. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 100 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Balentine LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 3.6% during the third quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 572 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $293,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust increased its position in MSCI by 1.0% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,630 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,349,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in MSCI by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,193 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Freedom Day Solutions LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 0.6% during the third quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC now owns 4,382 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,248,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $5.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $515.10. The company had a trading volume of 914,734 shares, compared to its average volume of 466,590. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $451.55 and a 1-year high of $617.39. The company has a market capitalization of $40.81 billion, a PE ratio of 35.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $550.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $539.55.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.29 by $0.39. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 111.17% and a net margin of 45.42%. The company had revenue of $690.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $662.64 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.84 EPS. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. MSCI’s payout ratio is 44.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Barclays increased their price target on MSCI from $600.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $581.57.

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.