MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Given New $590.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price target increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $570.00 to $590.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

MSCI has been the topic of a number of other reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group lifted their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $650.13.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $595.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $44.74 billion, a PE ratio of 37.73 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $634.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $566.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $564.71.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.37 by $0.10. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 110.94% and a net margin of 40.03%.The company had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.87 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 45.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total value of $247,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,901,450. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,290 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $536.17 per share, with a total value of $1,227,829.30. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 335,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $179,653,945.73. This represents a 0.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aviso Financial Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 2.0% during the third quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 859 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $487,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Keel Point LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 622 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Gries Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $868,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Copperwynd Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 1,793 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.