Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,800 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $2,715,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $378,140,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in MSCI by 312.3% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 852,913 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $428,913,000 after buying an additional 646,050 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in MSCI by 803.9% in the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 587,978 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $331,906,000 after buying an additional 522,926 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in MSCI by 254.1% in the third quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 469,660 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $240,973,000 after buying an additional 337,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in MSCI by 32.1% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,281,834 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $717,432,000 after buying an additional 311,370 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $513.28. The stock had a trading volume of 470,877 shares, compared to its average volume of 446,837. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $451.55 and a one year high of $617.39. The company has a market cap of $40.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.06. The business's 50 day moving average is $556.83 and its 200-day moving average is $539.26.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.29 by $0.39. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. The firm had revenue of $690.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $662.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.84 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This is an increase from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MSCI shares. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of MSCI from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $581.57.

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.