MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Upgraded to Buy at Redburn Atlantic

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) was upgraded by equities researchers at Redburn Atlantic from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $680.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Redburn Atlantic’s target price indicates a potential upside of 13.93% from the stock’s previous close.

MSCI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of MSCI to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $612.00.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $596.85 on Wednesday. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $617.39. The company has a market capitalization of $47.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.74, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $561.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $522.99.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 14.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in MSCI by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 239,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $134,475,000 after purchasing an additional 21,310 shares during the last quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $959,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter worth about $904,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth about $2,755,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 9.6% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 88,097 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $49,307,000 after buying an additional 7,718 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

About MSCI

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.