New York State Common Retirement Fund Decreases Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 11.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,098 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 10,975 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.10% of MSCI worth $45,873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth $434,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 218,623 shares of the technology company's stock worth $124,786,000 after purchasing an additional 35,277 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 13,659.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 10,182 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,759,000 after purchasing an additional 10,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of MSCI by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 430,676 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $220,971,000 after purchasing an additional 12,495 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $464.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,469,023 shares, compared to its average volume of 541,102. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $36.80 billion, a PE ratio of 31.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50 day moving average of $545.76 and a 200 day moving average of $538.56.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 111.33% and a net margin of 44.55%. MSCI's quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. MSCI's payout ratio is 43.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. Bank of America cut their price target on MSCI from $530.00 to $425.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group cut their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MSCI from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $562.87.

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.