MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by First Hawaiian Bank

First Hawaiian Bank cut its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 37.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,022 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,209 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank's holdings in MSCI were worth $1,143,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in MSCI by 4.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock worth $312,574,000 after acquiring an additional 23,050 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,012 shares of the technology company's stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company's stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 54,469 shares of the technology company's stock worth $32,682,000 after buying an additional 8,919 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,243 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,346,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:MSCI traded up $0.33 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $566.74. 78,922 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 508,826. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $550.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $577.07. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $475.32 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. As a group, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. MSCI's payout ratio is 49.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America initiated coverage on MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $645.36.

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.