Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for MSCI (NYSE:MSCI)

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $675.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 13.10% from the company’s current price.

MSCI has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $596.83 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $46.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.45, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $606.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $581.58.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 168.58% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.68 earnings per share. Analysts expect that MSCI will post 16.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, 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 purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,860,925,000 after buying an additional 11,351 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.9% in the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,279,904,000 after acquiring an additional 318,214 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,082,594,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 14.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after purchasing an additional 198,666 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.