Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Has $1.36 Million Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lowered its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 8.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,329 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 226 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,358,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 74.9% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $701,522,000 after buying an additional 623,712 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 129.4% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,153,000 after acquiring an additional 412,389 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $91,748,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in MSCI during the 1st quarter worth approximately $75,957,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in MSCI by 358.3% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,900,000 after purchasing an additional 104,474 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $593.86 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.99, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $631.70. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $583.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $537.85.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Argus increased their price target on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.