MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) Receives $654.73 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $654.7273.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 84 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,296,314.19. This represents a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have acquired 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 over the last 90 days. 3.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,508,242 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,483,783,000 after acquiring an additional 131,390 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in MSCI by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,281,311 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,892,463,000 after purchasing an additional 45,547 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,170,333 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,251,718,000 after purchasing an additional 98,680 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993,524 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,146,298,000 after purchasing an additional 34,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,626,923 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $920,026,000 after purchasing an additional 13,918 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $574.1090 on Monday. MSCI has a fifty-two week low of $486.73 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $44.41 billion, a PE ratio of 38.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $562.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $560.63.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.64 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.68%.

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.