Natixis Advisors LLC Boosts Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 6.4% to 53,552 shares (about $30.39M) in the third quarter, and overall institutional ownership stands near 89.97%.
• Wall Street sentiment is largely positive with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $671.78, with several brokers issuing buy/outperform views and targets up to $715.
• MSCI recently beat quarterly estimates with $4.66 EPS vs. $4.62 expected and $822.5M revenue (up 10.6% YoY), and raised its quarterly dividend to $2.05 ($8.20 annualized, ~1.5% yield).

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 6.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,552 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,240 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.07% of MSCI worth $30,386,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bowie Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bowie Capital Management LLC now owns 205,048 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $116,346,000 after buying an additional 10,296 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in MSCI by 373.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 23,636 shares of the technology company's stock worth $13,411,000 after acquiring an additional 18,643 shares in the last quarter. Heron Bay Capital Management raised its stake in MSCI by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Heron Bay Capital Management now owns 14,507 shares of the technology company's stock worth $8,232,000 after acquiring an additional 2,869 shares in the last quarter. Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd lifted its position in MSCI by 166.0% in the third quarter. Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd now owns 6,583 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,735,000 after acquiring an additional 4,108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cambria Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at $254,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSCI. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $690.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Monday, January 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $655.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group set a $638.00 target price on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating and set a $715.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $671.78.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $549.87 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $570.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $565.36. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $486.73 and a one year high of $626.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.05, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.04. MSCI had a net margin of 38.36% and a negative return on equity of 82.59%. The business had revenue of $822.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $819.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.18 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were given a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. This is a positive change from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. MSCI's payout ratio is 52.26%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction of $247,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,639 shares in the company, valued at $11,901,450. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $524.18 per share, with a total value of $3,145,080.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,047 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $782,625,376.46. This trade represents a 0.40% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI 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.

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