California Public Employees Retirement System Boosts Stake in MSCI Inc $MSCI

California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 198,854 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,677 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.26% of MSCI worth $112,832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aviso Financial Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 2.0% in the third quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 859 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $487,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,599,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 509 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 3,300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,872,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $549.88 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.40 billion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $568.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $564.62. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $626.28.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $822.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $819.51 million. MSCI had a net margin of 38.36% and a negative return on equity of 82.59%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.18 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were given a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $690.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $671.78.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 800 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $518.95 per share, for a total transaction of $415,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,493,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,231,900.65. This trade represents a 0.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI Profile

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.