Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 491 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,479 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 491 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in MSCI were worth $3,194,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.9% in the third quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 1,968 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Conning Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 479 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 542 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 5.0% in the second quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 423 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its stake in MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group lowered their target price on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.83.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $593.86 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $631.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.54 billion, a PE ratio of 38.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $583.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $537.85.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

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.