Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Buys 83,692 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 41.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 283,402 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 83,692 shares during the quarter. MSCI comprises about 0.7% of Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $170,044,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 0.9% during the third quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 1,968 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lowered their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 0.9 %

MSCI stock opened at $573.31 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $595.34 and a 200 day moving average of $588.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.52 billion, a PE ratio of 40.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect 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 will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

MSCI 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.