MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price target raised by Morgan Stanley from $662.00 to $695.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.58.

MSCI Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $625.10 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $48.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $599.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $554.66. MSCI has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter worth about $27,000. LRI Investments LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

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.