MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $563.86.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on MSCI from $510.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on MSCI from $532.00 to $526.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 1st. Finally, Argus began coverage on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $580.00 target price for the company.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 1,478 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total value of $768,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 15,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,893,080. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,771,308 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,789,834,000 after buying an additional 194,995 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in MSCI by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,227,973 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,514,855,000 after acquiring an additional 82,761 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,042,809 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $958,653,000 after purchasing an additional 240,639 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,684,190 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $788,506,000 after purchasing an additional 46,934 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 11.0% in the second quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,570,337 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $736,741,000 after purchasing an additional 156,155 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.61% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $497.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI has a 52-week low of $450.00 and a 52-week high of $572.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $514.76 and a 200 day moving average of $502.07.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 31st. The technology company reported $3.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $625.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $625.67 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 97.86% and a net margin of 39.76%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.85 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that MSCI will post 13.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 9th will be given a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 8th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.00%.

MSCI Company Profile

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.