State of Alaska Department of Revenue Has $6.79 Million Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lessened its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,315 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in MSCI were worth $6,788,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSCI. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,860,925,000 after acquiring an additional 11,351 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 16.9% during the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,279,904,000 after purchasing an additional 318,214 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,082,594,000 after buying an additional 13,691 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in MSCI by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after buying an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after buying an additional 37,340 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSCI. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $579.13 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $45.39 billion, a PE ratio of 41.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $605.76 and its 200-day moving average is $584.53.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.85 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Company 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.