Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $3.24 Million Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,405 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 74 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in MSCI were worth $3,243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 30.0% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in MSCI by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,991,000 after buying an additional 41,346 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 339.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,834 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,642,000 after buying an additional 20,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 176.2% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $921,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lowered their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $578.71 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $597.17 and its 200 day moving average is $587.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.16, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

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.