Teacher Retirement System of Texas Raises Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 316.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 108,486 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 82,451 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in MSCI were worth $65,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,227,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $571.25 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.63, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $582.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $588.83. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

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.