Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Has $10 Million Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lessened its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,664 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 457 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS's holdings in MSCI were worth $9,999,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. LRI Investments LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 120.0% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its stake in MSCI by 122.7% during the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:MSCI traded down $5.27 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $569.35. 455,125 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 529,170. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $581.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $588.84. The firm has a market cap of $44.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.49, a PEG 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.

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MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business earned $3.68 EPS. Research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 1.26%. This is a positive change from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on MSCI shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $649.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About MSCI

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.