The Federal Open Market Committee wrapped up its fourth of eight scheduled meetings this year with a much anticipated interest rate hike – the central bank's second major policy move of 2017 and its fourth since the end of 2015.

Given the labor market's proximity to full employment and the Federal Reserve's desire to raise rates before the country's next economic crisis, Fed Chair Janet Yellen and her colleagues were widely expected to act heading into Wednesday.

Just an hour before the Fed announced its decision, the CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicated there was a better than 93 percent chance Yellen and her colleagues would make their move in June.

"Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in May indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and that economic activity has been rising moderately so far this year," the FOMC said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. "Job gains have moderated but have been solid, on average, since the beginning of the year, and the unemployment rate has declined."

The statement went on to cite household spending that has "picked up in recent months" and business fixed investment that has "continued to expand" as further justification for raising rates. But it also indicated that "inflation has declined recently" from the Fed's long-term 2 percent target, which could complicate future policy decisions if pricing metrics don't pick up the pace.

"[N]either inflation nor headline growth have trended up as much as would be expected given statistically very low unemployment," Zachary Karabell, head of global strategies and a senior consultant at financial services outfit Envestnet, wrote in a research note Wednesday. "This is a conundrum that the Fed has and will continue to wrestle with, and which is likely to keep the current path of tightening limited and modest."

The lackluster inflation didn't appear to meaningfully impact the Fed's long-term outlook for interest rates, though, based on the central bank's so-called "dot plot" that accompanied its Wednesday announcement. Released four times each year, the dot plot shows how quickly meeting participants believe they'll be able to raise interest rates in the coming months and years. June's dots indicate most of those in attendance believed at least one more rate hike would be appropriate before year's end.

Affirming those projections, Yellen said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon that she and her colleagues "anticipate further increases this year and next year for the federal funds rate."

Source: FOMC

Source: Federal Open Market Committee

The third rate hike in seven months, coming off of a disappointing May and a soft first quarter for gross domestic product expansion, "suggests the Fed has become less data dependent in its monetary policy decisions," Brian Coulton, chief economist at Fitch Ratings, said in a statement Wednesday. "A stepped up pace of normalization, at a rate of three or four hikes per year through 2019 now looks likely to us."

The Fed statement also indicated the central bank plans to start unwinding its balance sheet later this year, "provided that the economy evolves broadly as anticipated." The Fed a few years ago bought up trillions of dollars of Treasuries and government bonds to help boost the country out of financial crisis, but it has yet to reduce those holdings to a more normal level. Wednesday's release indicates the central bank could start that process in the coming months.