Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Invests $1.25 Million in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund bought a new stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,210 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,250,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSCI. Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.8% in the first quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 540 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 117 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 824 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $466,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Aurora Investment Managers LLC. grew its stake in MSCI by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Aurora Investment Managers LLC. now owns 3,754 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,123,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSCI. Bank of America began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered 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, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $645.36.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $555.46 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.18, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $554.42 and its 200 day moving average is $572.24. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $478.33 and a 52 week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a net margin of 39.08% and a negative return on equity of 145.52%. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. Equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 289,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.