New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 11,349 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,883 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 11,349 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in MSCI were worth $38,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LRI Investments LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $572.78 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $602.42 and its 200-day moving average is $586.05. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $44.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on MSCI. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

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.