California Public Employees Retirement System Increases Stock Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 194,177 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,569 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in MSCI were worth $111,990,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Steph & Co. purchased a new position in MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Banque Transatlantique SA raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 355.6% in the first quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 82 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 2,666.7% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 83 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 47.0% during the second quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 97 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth about $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 624 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.42, for a total transaction of $348,454.08. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 15,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,904,006.90. The trade was a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $537.33 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $560.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $562.66. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $40.37 billion, a PE ratio of 34.05 and a beta of 1.32.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.37 by $0.10. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 110.94% and a net margin of 40.03%.The firm had revenue of $793.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.87 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.86 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on MSCI shares. Barclays upped their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group upped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $655.90.

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.