Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System opened a new position in MSCI during the first quarter, buying 3,700 shares valued at about $1.99 million.
• Institutional interest in MSCI remains strong, with about 89.97% of the stock owned by institutions and hedge funds. Recent filings also showed large stakes added by firms like Norges Bank and T. Rowe Price.
• Analysts remain upbeat on MSCI, with a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $697. The company also beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, while recently paying a $2.05 per share quarterly dividend.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,700 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,994,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth about $528,560,000. Bamco Inc. NY grew its holdings in MSCI by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,755,747 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,581,055,000 after purchasing an additional 361,630 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA grew its holdings in MSCI by 103.3% in the fourth quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 523,035 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $300,081,000 after purchasing an additional 265,750 shares during the period. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $130,380,000. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,446,291 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $829,781,000 after buying an additional 168,405 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSCI. UBS Group increased their target price on MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $690.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $719.00 to $727.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $655.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MSCI from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and ten have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $697.00.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total transaction of $5,920,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 23,548 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,941,357.92. This represents a 29.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $560.68 on Wednesday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $591.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $572.94. The company has a market cap of $40.82 billion, a PE ratio of 32.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.24. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $501.08 and a 1-year high of $644.68.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.17. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 40.74%.The firm had revenue of $850.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $830.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.00 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. MSCI's payout ratio is 46.83%.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.

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