Analysts Set MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) PT at $631.83

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $631.83.

Several research firms have weighed in on MSCI. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 74.9% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $701,522,000 after purchasing an additional 623,712 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 129.4% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,153,000 after purchasing an additional 412,389 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 16.9% during the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after purchasing an additional 318,214 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in MSCI by 14.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the second quarter valued at $91,748,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $593.12 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $46.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day moving average is $584.32 and its 200 day moving average is $539.21. MSCI has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $631.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that MSCI will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

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.