Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Has $170.04 Million Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 41.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 283,402 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 83,692 shares during the quarter. MSCI comprises 0.7% of Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC owned about 0.36% of MSCI worth $170,044,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in MSCI by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,991,000 after buying an additional 41,346 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in MSCI by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 339.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,834 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,642,000 after buying an additional 20,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 176.2% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSCI. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Trading Down 0.9 %

MSCI stock opened at $573.31 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $595.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $588.70. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.78, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. Equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 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.