Brokerages Set MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Target Price at $556.50

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI – Get Rating) has been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the ten analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $556.50.

MSCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Redburn Partners initiated coverage on MSCI in a report on Tuesday, May 17th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on MSCI from $533.00 to $477.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 27th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on MSCI from $724.00 to $602.00 in a report on Friday, January 28th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on MSCI in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Zacks Investment Research upgraded MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $542.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 5th.

In related news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.80, for a total value of $432,480.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Advisory Services Network LLC grew its position in MSCI by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 1,687 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $849,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its position in MSCI by 19.0% during the 1st quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 589,644 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $296,523,000 after purchasing an additional 94,126 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in MSCI by 55.9% during the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 675 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the period. Toroso Investments LLC grew its position in MSCI by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 1,438 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $723,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in MSCI by 69.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,547 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,870,000 after purchasing an additional 13,800 shares during the period. 90.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $417.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.80 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $462.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $530.81. MSCI has a 52-week low of $376.41 and a 52-week high of $679.85.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 26th. The technology company reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $559.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $563.18 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 205.88% and a net margin of 35.65%. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 11.41 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 13th will be given a $1.04 dividend. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 12th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 45.61%.

About MSCI (Get Rating)

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides investment decision support tools for the clients to manage their investment processes worldwide. It operates through four segments: Index, Analytics, ESG and Climate, and All Other – Private Assets. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed product creation, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.

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