MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target Raised to $695.00

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price objective hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $662.00 to $695.00 in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

MSCI has been the topic of several other research reports. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.58.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $625.10 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $48.99 billion, a PE ratio of 41.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $599.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $554.66. MSCI has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.02%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 155,188 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $74,762,000 after purchasing an additional 19,660 shares during the period. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. purchased a new position in MSCI in the second quarter valued at $2,012,000. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth about $390,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 274.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,212 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $584,000 after acquiring an additional 888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,715,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Company 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.