State of Alaska Department of Revenue Acquires 35 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,955 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in MSCI were worth $6,139,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,725,215 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $976,009,000 after purchasing an additional 151,108 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in MSCI by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $749,422,000 after purchasing an additional 179,508 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,038,761 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $587,575,000 after acquiring an additional 44,234 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 959,894 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $492,502,000 after purchasing an additional 235,290 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $496,541,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at $6,052,254.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on MSCI in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $570.53.

MSCI Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $491.19 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $485.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $530.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.10. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.14 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 43.69%.

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.