Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Has $15.99 Million Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 26,643 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 691 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $15,986,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter worth $27,000. LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 120.0% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in MSCI by 35.1% in 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 period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group decreased their target price on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI opened at $614.25 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $604.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $576.95.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

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.