Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 4,322 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado trimmed its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 248,051 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 4,322 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in MSCI were worth $148,833,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at $609,937,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 16,353.6% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 587,557 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $352,539,000 after purchasing an additional 583,986 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 169.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 507,413 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $304,453,000 after purchasing an additional 319,083 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $185,003,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $126,082,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.36.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $535.66 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $555.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $583.65. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $458.69 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $41.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. On average, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 49.48%.

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.