MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 12.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,880 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 6,881 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.06% of MSCI worth $27,642,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at $210,000. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in MSCI by 27.4% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 623 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,123 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 72,398 shares of the technology company's stock worth $43,440,000 after acquiring an additional 7,874 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on MSCI from $530.00 to $578.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $651.55.

MSCI Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $9.18 on Wednesday, reaching $572.31. 840,852 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 508,917. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.33, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.32. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.74 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $565.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $568.46.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

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.