State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Cuts Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 28,651 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 552 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in MSCI were worth $17,191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in MSCI by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $104,991,000 after buying an additional 41,346 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 339.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,834 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,642,000 after buying an additional 20,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 176.2% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $572.78 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $44.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.74, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $601.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $586.86. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.52%.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays cut their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

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.