Arizona State Retirement System Has $13.47 Million Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 6.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,825 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,354 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System's holdings in MSCI were worth $13,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 21.3% during the 1st quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 809 shares of the technology company's stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management now owns 7,630 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,315,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 43.3% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,857 shares of the technology company's stock worth $15,753,000 after buying an additional 8,412 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in MSCI by 1.1% in the first quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 7,413 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quotient Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 361 shares of the technology company's stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $530.00 to $578.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $651.55.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI traded up $5.09 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $570.65. The stock had a trading volume of 519,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 508,213. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.22, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.32. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.74 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $564.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $568.73.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a net margin of 39.08% and a negative return on equity of 145.52%. The company had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 49.48%.

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.