MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System cut its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,471 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 244 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in MSCI were worth $13,483,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. LRI Investments LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp grew its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

MSCI Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $565.84 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $590.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $589.81. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $43.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company posted $3.68 EPS. Analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.