Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Reduces Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio decreased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 9.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,158 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 3,562 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in MSCI were worth $19,912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth $26,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $629.08. The stock had a trading volume of 455,048 shares, compared to its average volume of 536,407. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $638.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $597.47 and a 200 day moving average of $552.22. The stock has a market cap of $49.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.10.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company's stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on MSCI. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $690.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $680.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $631.83.

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.