Natixis Advisors LLC Has $23.08 Million Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Natixis Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 24.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 40,232 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 13,320 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $23,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 1.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,674,093 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,489,177,000 after buying an additional 165,851 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in MSCI by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,320,761 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,884,233,000 after buying an additional 39,450 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its stake in MSCI by 10.3% in the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,394,117 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,358,446,000 after buying an additional 223,784 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in MSCI by 36.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,069,180 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $606,674,000 after buying an additional 282,859 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,000,942 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $574,270,000 after buying an additional 39,099 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $616.28 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a 1 year low of $501.08 and a 1 year high of $644.68. The business has a 50-day moving average of $578.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $568.85. The company has a market capitalization of $44.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.24.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.17. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 40.74%.The company had revenue of $850.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $830.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MSCI shares. UBS Group increased their target price on MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday. Bank of America started coverage on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $730.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised MSCI from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $650.00 to $700.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and ten have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $697.70.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $252,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,624,640. This trade represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total value of $5,920,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 23,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,941,357.92. The trade was a 29.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.