New York State Common Retirement Fund Lowers Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 17.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 59,714 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 12,753 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in MSCI were worth $34,809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $58,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 1.2 %

MSCI opened at $577.95 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $580.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $530.20. The firm has a market cap of $45.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $631.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday. Argus upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.83.

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.