California Public Employees Retirement System Raises Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 194,177 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,569 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.25% of MSCI worth $111,990,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Gries Financial LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $868,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.1% in the second quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 1,793 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during the second quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,599,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 8.5% in the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 268 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $155,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 12.5% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 234 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $133,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total value of $348,454.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 15,945 shares in the company, valued at $8,904,006.90. This represents a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of MSCI opened at $537.33 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $560.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $562.66. The company has a market capitalization of $40.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05 and a beta of 1.32. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $486.73 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.87 million. MSCI had a net margin of 40.03% and a negative return on equity of 110.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.86 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $655.90.

MSCI 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.