New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 10,975 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 11.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 81,098 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 10,975 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in MSCI were worth $45,873,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in shares of MSCI by 803.9% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 587,978 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $331,906,000 after purchasing an additional 522,926 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 59.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 762,080 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $391,008,000 after acquiring an additional 284,513 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in MSCI by 32.5% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 959,894 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $492,502,000 after acquiring an additional 235,290 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 468.7% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 244,267 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $125,329,000 after acquiring an additional 201,317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in MSCI by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $749,422,000 after purchasing an additional 179,508 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 4.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $464.81 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $545.76 and its 200 day moving average is $538.56. The stock has a market cap of $36.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 111.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.14 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSCI. Bank of America reduced their target price on MSCI from $530.00 to $425.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $562.87.

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.