Barclays Raises MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target to $700.00

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price objective lifted by Barclays from $650.00 to $700.00 in a research report report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

MSCI has been the subject of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group increased their price target on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Argus upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised MSCI to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $591.00.

MSCI Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $561.93 on Friday. MSCI has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $542.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $521.51. The company has a market cap of $44.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that MSCI will post 14.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 43.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,719,381 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,886,777,000 after acquiring an additional 36,043 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in MSCI by 0.5% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,734,519 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $972,111,000 after buying an additional 9,304 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 1,323,058 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $741,508,000 after buying an additional 23,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.3% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,047,960 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $504,855,000 after purchasing an additional 13,620 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.