MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Receives $645.67 Average Target Price from Analysts

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $645.67.

MSCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised its position 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 in the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 16.9% during the 3rd 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,082,594,000 after acquiring an additional 13,691 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after acquiring an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $870,627,000 after purchasing an additional 37,340 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $591.13 on Friday. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $601.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $569.07. The firm has a market cap of $46.33 billion, a PE ratio of 38.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

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.