MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $570.53.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the first quarter worth $34,000. Finally, American National Bank lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 1,300.0% during the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 70 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $476.52 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.53, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $490.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $532.95. MSCI has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The company had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.14 EPS. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI will post 14.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

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.