State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Reduces Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its holdings in MSCI Inc by 10.3%, selling 2,940 shares and now owns 25,711 shares valued at approximately $14.54 million.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for MSCI, with an average target price set at $654.73, following various updates on price targets from firms such as UBS and Wells Fargo.
• MSCI recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, which translates to an annualized dividend yield of 1.3% with a payout ratio of 47.68%.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 10.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,711 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 2,940 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in MSCI were worth $14,540,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,302,610,000 after purchasing an additional 518,833 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 61,179.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company's stock worth $285,892,000 after purchasing an additional 504,732 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3,881.3% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company's stock worth $251,662,000 after purchasing an additional 408,894 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 605,802.9% during the first quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 212,066 shares of the technology company's stock worth $129,903,000 after purchasing an additional 212,031 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the first quarter worth $117,879,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. UBS Group increased their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $654.73.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 9,916 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $544.70 per share, with a total value of $5,401,245.20. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at $697,143,554.90. This represents a 0.78% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:MSCI traded down $6.7520 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $567.4980. 535,513 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 605,342. The stock has a market cap of $43.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.58, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.29. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $562.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $560.63.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.06 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%.The business's revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. MSCI's payout ratio is 47.68%.

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.