Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 7,874 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 12.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 72,398 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 7,874 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $43,440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.6% in the fourth 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 increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $554.92 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.09 billion, a PE ratio of 39.47, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The business’s 50-day moving average is $584.61 and its 200 day moving average is $589.15.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (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 in the previous year, the firm earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three research 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, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.