MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 281,829 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 7,509 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in MSCI were worth $169,100,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in MSCI by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $558.03 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $578.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $588.92. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $43.33 billion, a PE ratio of 39.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the firm earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays reduced their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

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.