Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 776 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Teacher Retirement System of Texas reduced its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 32,898 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 776 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in MSCI were worth $18,974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 336.4% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 96 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 10.0% in the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 8,882 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,123,000 after purchasing an additional 809 shares during the last quarter. waypoint wealth counsel purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $355,000. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 6.5% in the first quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 524 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter worth about $288,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI opened at $592.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.85 billion, a PE ratio of 39.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $561.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $559.82. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $486.73 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.37 by $0.10. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The business had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 47.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings cut MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Saturday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $647.70.

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.