State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Lowers Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 36.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,203 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 16,436 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in MSCI were worth $14,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 672 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $380,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,065 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,838 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,171,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 1,897 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,073,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 1,300.0% in the 4th quarter. American National Bank now owns 70 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded MSCI to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Eight investment 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $588.36.

MSCI Stock Up 0.4 %

MSCI stock opened at $561.93 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $617.39. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $542.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $522.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The company had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.26 EPS. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

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.