California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 7,509 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 281,829 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 7,509 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.36% of MSCI worth $169,100,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in MSCI by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $104,991,000 after buying an additional 41,346 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in MSCI by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock worth $312,574,000 after acquiring an additional 23,050 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 176.2% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company's stock worth $921,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% in the fourth quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 76.3% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI traded down $27.16 on Thursday, reaching $548.80. The company had a trading volume of 358,299 shares, compared to its average volume of 555,752. The stock has a market cap of $42.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The company's fifty day moving average is $576.12 and its 200 day moving average is $588.91.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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 research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a 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 report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $649.23.

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.