Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 322 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lessened its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,006 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 322 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in MSCI were worth $3,366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 18.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 581,558 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $325,936,000 after buying an additional 92,118 shares during the period. BOKF NA boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.2% in the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 4,329 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,402,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Totem Point Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 5.4% in the first quarter. Totem Point Management LLC now owns 17,372 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,736,000 after buying an additional 885 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 5.4% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 15,959 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,943,000 after buying an additional 813 shares during the period. Finally, Quantum Capital Management LLC NJ boosted its holdings in MSCI by 8.2% during the first quarter. Quantum Capital Management LLC NJ now owns 33,338 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $18,684,000 after purchasing an additional 2,514 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI traded up $2.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $540.55. 439,620 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 578,947. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $617.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.51 billion, a PE ratio of 36.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $495.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $524.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The business had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.41 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.26 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.78 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on MSCI. Bank of America upgraded shares of MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.21.

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.