State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Boosts Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury raised its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 31.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,275 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 7,012 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury's holdings in MSCI were worth $17,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,136,563,000 after acquiring an additional 35,094 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp increased its position in MSCI by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company's stock worth $689,180,000 after buying an additional 49,679 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at $609,937,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 853,452 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $512,079,000 after buying an additional 25,325 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock traded up $5.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $535.66. The company had a trading volume of 504,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 545,935. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $555.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $583.80. The company has a market capitalization of $41.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $458.69 and a 1 year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $645.36.

MSCI Company 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.